The Return to the Labyrinth
by H. R. Beck
Summary: It's been over two decades since Sarah dreamed she entered a fantastic world to save her little brother from the clutches of a Goblin King. Both Sarah and Toby have settled into their lives and grown up but now fate is about to step in and turn everyone's
1. The Escher Room

Graceland Wittman had once been a cherished college professor of business finance and real estate. She'd also served as a member of the school board in a certain student's Dartmouth college days where the said student known as Sarah Williams had graduated with a degree in English Literature.

After graduation Sarah had enjoyed some mild success as a undergrad teacher at the local community college. Unfortunately after only a few semesters the young woman found with some discouragement that the job was not as stimulating as she had originally hoped it would be.

As time went on it slowly became apparent to Sarah Williams that if something didn't change and soon she would be doomed to live a rather humdrum existence lecturing pre-college students who seemed to have little interest in her subject matter other then the college credit it provided them. Though the staff loved her and a few select students had found her to be inspiring; Sarah Williams was, in essence, not very happy with where she was going in her life.

That had changed, however, the night of her thirtieth birthday when Grace Wittman, since retired from teaching and the tedious responsibilities involved in the running of the school, had suddenly approached her with a special business proposition.

It seemed that after the untimely death of her beloved husband and business partner, Edger Paul Wittman, Grace had decided to begin the transition into early retirement. Being the made woman that she was, not only because of her husband assets but of her own business savvy; it happened that Grace had in her possession a prime piece of real estate located in the private business sector of a ideal part of New Hampshire.

Since her husband's business investments had been far reaching and highly successful the property in question which had once been a large high end flower shop in the late fifties had for the most part remained vacant and unused. Grace had wanted to change that and Sarah was just the person she wanted to enlist to help her do it. Thus the Escher room had blossomed into existence.

Between Sarah's imaginative vision of what the shop could be, her selling personality, and Grace's financial contributions; the shop had enjoyed a healthy loving kick of a jump start. Beyond that Sarah had chiefly been responsible for its continued success as a whimsically inspired, privately run and owned, new age shop.

Five years since its creation an older, curvier, but still lovely Sarah Williams was crouched behind the main glass display counter of her shop shining the display glass and carefully arranging a very impressive multi colored geode collection, when without any warning at all, the front door of the Escher Room swung brightly open with a tell tale jingo-ling.

There was no need to look up in order to tell who had entered the shop unannounced. She could have identified her brother Toby's intense, though jovial, presence anywhere.

Sarah smirked as she watched him walk to the counter she was crouched before and lean across the glass in order to watch her intently with his fist propping up his slightly tilted head. For some reason her brother's presence always had a tendency to make the energy in any space crackle to life.

"Good morning, little brother." She muttered affectionately up at him.

As a general rule Sarah didn't like being disturbed before official opening hours, but Toby's usually unexpected arrivals were always a welcome exception. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be up at the cabin by now."

"Are you kidding? I would never pass up an opportunity to harass you during work hours. You should know me better than that. Besides, I've been putting the trip up off. Why can't mom and dad have Christmas in Miami like normal retirees?" He complained lightheartedly.

"You know how Karen is. Snow and the bitter cold is like...Her natural environment. Besides you know she's been pushing dad to go skiing with her." Sarah tried to imagine her father with a pair of rod like planks strapped to his feet and failed to produce a scenario that didn't involve at least one or two trips to the First Aid hut.

"Well mom will probably ignore him most of the day anyway. You know how she likes to hob-nob with her skiing friends. I imagine dad will likely end up hide in the lodge drinking coffee and watching reruns of Geraldo. So its not like he'll have a terrible time." Toby picked at an invisible thread on his sleeve as he spoke.

Since we're on the subject of planned vacations I don't recall my mother saying you sent her back a confirmation E-mail." Toby mentioned.

"Now. I'm going to assume, my dear sister, that this is just a case of mom being technologically inept and that you just didn't receive her notice about Christmas at the cabin this year. You know? Christmas at the cabin? The holiday retreat that's happened every year since I was ten? That's the other reason I'm here." Toby flashed Sarah a wicked toothy grin.

A grin that proved he knew exactly what she was up to and that said he fully intended to thwart Sarah before she succeeded in weaseling out of another family holiday.

Sarah stood up finally examining her younger half brother before answering him.

In truth, it had been ages since she'd seen Toby or done anything more then have a casual conversation over the phone with him. At least that was how it had been in the last year or so. Sarah couldn't claim to be very proud of neglecting her familial responsibilities. Not that Toby didn't understand that she was busy. It just seemed to always take Sarah by surprise whenever she realize how quickly the time was passing by.

The presence of her brother always served to remind Sarah of just how much time had already passed, simply for the fact that it seemed only yesterday when her brother had been an infant and dependent on other peoples care. Sarah recalled how Toby had still been a mere boy by the time she'd moved out of the family nest in route to college and a life of her own.

Toby Williams had grown into a fine young man in the years she'd been away from home. Tall and lean like his mother Karen; Toby had retained his mother's sharp, somewhat aristocratic, features and, unlike Sarah who had inherited her actress mother's raven hair, his had once been the color of sun ripened wheat. Although light during his early youth his hair had ultimately darkened to an auburn tone which took on various shades of brown when exposed to certain lighting. Toby tended to wear it little longer then was commonly fashionable and his hair tended to curl in an unruly fashion about his ears.

What had been most amazing about Toby's transition into adulthood was the occurrence of a sort of fluid grace about his movements and general mannerisms that had developed over time. It was as if Toby's inner world was accompanied by a kind of sing song melody that set a sort of unique rhythm to everything he did. Sarah had never been nearly as graceful in anything she did by comparison. In her early years it had been a sensitive subject between Sarah and her step mother who was a gracious lady in her own right.

Along with his beautifully defined features and tall broad physique, the single most fascinating thing about Toby's appearance -and perhaps the most unnerving- where his alluring mismatched eyes. The doctors had called it an inherited chromosomal deficiency. Something that her father had claimed ran on his mother's side of the family.

That being said, when Sarah thought about it she could never recall meeting another family member with the same condition. At any rate upon leaving infancy one eye had settled a pale blue and the other had settled a light almost hazel green.

"I know mom and dad where really hoping I'd make it this year and it's not like I wouldn't like to go, but I just can't." Sarah said apologetically. "I can't, Toby. Who will watch the store?"

It was the same excuse Sarah had used for the last five years and with every turn of the seasons the excuse had become less and less buoyant. The Escher Room wasn't new anymore. It had been going strong for the last few years and as far as Toby was concerned the excuse of being busy was no longer going to save her if he had anything to say about it.

"Look I find the idea of mom cooking Christmas dinner in a wood burning stove just as frightening as you do." Toby shrugged.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll just order Chinese like she did last year when she almost burned the kitchen down. Do you remember that?"

Sarah couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, I do. I remember her calling me up in a panic because she thought she'd killed dad when she'd thrown the fire extinguisher at his head. I remember she wanted to know how to do CPR." Sarah recalled.

"Even though dad was breathing just fine and was trying in vain to get her attention from the floor." Toby finished with a chuckle.

"Didn't you end up having to smother it out because the fire extinguisher form the cabin was a test model from 1955 and didn't work?" Sarah said as she tried to suppress a huge grin.

Toby nodded slowly. "Oh, that wasn't fun at all. I ended up having to drive dad to the hospital in sub zero temperatures through the snow and ice all with a broken back window. I was sure we'd both freeze to death before I could even got out of the hills."

Toby paused for a moment still reminiscing in his mind's eye. If Sarah had been there the whole thing would never have happened. Finally he schooled his face into a slightly somber scowl and made his plea one more time.

"Come on, Sarah!. You will come to the cabin this year, won't you? You owe me this one. What if I need you to help with damage control or something? I overheard mom threatening to cook fig pudding this year last time I called home." Despite the joking there was an underlining tone of seriousness to Toby's tone that was hidden just underneath the begging and whining. .

This caused Sarah to pause.

It almost seemed as if Toby had other reasons for being so earnest about them spending Christmas together this year. If she hadn't known better Sarah might have almost thought there was something wrong. After all it was rather out of character for Toby to show up in the city without telling her he was in town first.

"Well I can't have that, now can I?" she said with a sigh before coming around the counter to give him a warm hug. "I'll see what Grace can do if that'll make you happy. You over grown brat, you. Deal?"

Sarah offered while trying to dodge any promises as she skirted back behind the counter to prepare the register so that she could open for business.

"Oh no you don't!" Toby scolded with a sudden stern look that only lasted as far as the rim of the counter that he idly followed Sarah around while wagging a long agile finger at her. "You're not getting out of it this time by pawning your excuses off on that poor assistant of yours."

"Besides, it's too late anyway." Toby grinned.

Sarah cocked her brow at him as she moved away from the register to poignantly place her hands on her hips. "Explain now."

"Well, you see Sarah..." Toby put his hands behind his back as he rocked back on his heels to wickedly prolong his explanation.

That is he managed it up until Sarah started threatening a dreaded noogie if he didn't hurry it up and divulge.

"Now don't be mad. It just so happens that I ran into Grace on my way up this last weekend and when I ran into her she just happened to mention to me that your schedule was crystal clear for the next couple of weeks." He finished hastily with an unconcerned shrug.

"Did she now..." Sarah muttered suspiciously as she narrowed her eyes at him.

Sarah knew for a fact that she didn't have any time off for at least another month, if at all.

"Toby, what did you do?" Sarah took one threatening step towards him. Her right hand rose up to press an accusatory pointer finger into his chest.

"Me?" Toby put his nose up in the air in mock indignity. "I didn't do anything."

At that Sarah grinned sweetly before promptly putting him in a rather skillful headlock. Toby might have been a good head taller then her. but she was still the oldest.

"OK! OK, uncle!" Toby yelled with a playful laugh.

"I told her there was a family event coming up and asked if she could do some quick re-arranging of your schedule. You're now free for the next three weeks." He proclaimed still in full headlock mode.

'Why you..." Sarah smirked before releasing him.

"Handsome devil? Brilliant fiend?" He offered for her not missing a beat.

"Dirty cheat is what I was thinking." She muttered unable to suppress a wide grin.

"All right. You've got me. I'm not expected to bring anything am I?" The two looked at each other knowingly as they suddenly said in unison, "Dessert."

A few days later Sarah wrapped up her work at the shop and began to prepare for the day long journey northward to her family's cabin. Toby had left a few days ahead of her and was most likely there already.

Despite her hesitation about leaving her work Grace Wittman was not about to let this opportunity slip through Sarah's fingers.

Graceland Wittman was a broadly built, curvy, eccentric woman with long curly sliver toned hair. Unlike some women who dyed their hair dark when age began to show, Grace had chosen the somewhat unconventional route of embracing the gray streaks by dyeing her strawberry blond locks a pretty sliver.

"Might as well get the whole mess out of the way instead of waiting for all the leaves to turn." Was what she'd said merrily when Sarah had inquired about the woman's hair. To be honest it actually made the nearing fifty-something woman look younger.

"You really didn't have to do this, Grace." Sarah insisted as she was warmly hugged and tucked into her car.

"Nonsense. You deserve a break, Kiddo. You work too hard. I promise I've got everything under control." Grace reassured her lovingly before giving Sarah a pat on the shoulder that said everything would be fine.

Thanks in part to Grace's extensive financial support, during the early days of the shop's life the Escher Room had enjoyed both local and national recognition and had even caught the eyes of some out of country buyers, at which point Grace had completely turned control of the business over to Sarah and only stayed on to assist her with the day to day demands.

Since Grace had single handily helped to bring the Escher Room into being there was no reason to think she wasn't just as capable as Sarah was in handling the business. "You're sure you have everything?"

Sarah checked through the list in her mind. "Yes. No! Crap." Her head come to rest upon the steering wheel. "It was my turn to bring the desserts, I can't believe I forgot."

A little light bulb seemed to turn on behind Grace's eyes. "No worries, dear. You do like pie, don't you? I just got done making a batch this morning. You can have a few if you like. I always end up handing them out anyway." She wrinkled her stout nose. "I don't really like pie actually."

"Then why do you make them?" Sarah laughed. Grace was very much like a grandmother to her and the two had become deeply close over the last ten years.

The older woman shrugged causing the mess of silver ringlets to jingle. "I like to bake, and my cookies always burn."

After a few more minutes of idle conversation Grace gave her a warm hug and checked to make sure Sarah had a scarf before shooing her out of the parking lot a few minutes later. The pies were now packed securely away beside Sarah. As Grace watched her fade into the distance a motherly all knowing smile splayed across the older womans lips and chimes could be heard twinkling somewhere on the air.


	2. Sarah's Arrival and a Stir of Trouble

Sarah arrived at the family cabin by mid evening. It had been an eight hour drive one way in less then admirable traffic and she was thoroughly sick of being cooped up in the car. Toby as usual was waiting to help her with her things at the cabin door scowling slightly as he took note of the new sheet of snow that had covered his early handy work.

"Damn it all! You know, I really hate the winter." He yelled over the wind as he pulled his thick leather jacket close and trudged out into the white mass to meet her by the Buick door.

"Shut up and take this stuff already." Sarah said with a brisk grin before ruffling her brother's hair with one gloved hand and heaved a heavy paper bag into his arms with the other followed by a black sports duffel.

Sarah picked her way carefully towards the cabin with Toby following begrudgingly at her heels. Snow was about the only force in nature that upset his natural born grace. Even after twenty four years he wasn't accustom to it at all and nearly went face first into the path ahead of him twice.

"When is dad and mom supposed get here?" Sarah inquired once they were safely within the shelter of the door.

"Not for another couple of days. mom and dad decided to drive up instead of fly. Judging by the way that white stuff is coming down out there I imagine we've got the place all to our lonesome till at least Sunday." Toby replied.

It was only Thursday and the snow was supposed to fall evenly for the next forty-eight hours. Both of them grinned at this, it was always more fun with just the two of them.

"Figures." Sarah muttered rolling her eyes as she shrugged off her coat, hat, and gloves.

Whenever they're current parental units "decided" something it almost always meant that Karen had badgered their father into agreeing. Such decisions usually ended poorly and with long term turmoil for everyone involved. To say that Sarah did not care for Karen was untrue. It wasn't an understatement to suggest that the two women had bumped heads regularly in her youth, but in time as Sarah had grown older they'd managed to put aside their differences by mostly agreeing to disagree. After all, like it or not Karen was Toby's mother and her father's wife in that way they were all bound to each other for better or for worst. If anything Sarah had developed a mutual respect even a slight affection for the woman and had managed to entertain a pleasant, if slightly strained, relationship with her.

"So," Toby didn't bother finishing his sentence before dropping the duffel and poking into the paper bag. "What did you bring me?"

"Would you get out of there." She laughed shooing his hands away. "You're like a little kid."

"A big kid, actually." Toby corrected instantly. "Now go and sit down while I get us some drinks."

The cabin was a warm and inviting place set in sturdy light wood with spacious but cozy rooms. There were three bedrooms; a master and two smaller. Along with a well equipped tidy kitchenette and pantry. The den and parlor were the best rooms in the cabin because the large stone fireplace and the great shelf of books were centered there.

Both Toby and Sarah took great pleasure in the pursuit of books. Sarah loved them for their symbolism and duality, for her the deep world of fantasy held endless bounds of truth and morality. Toby loved them for their history, philosophy, and logic. He was partial to puzzles and often the two of them indulged in hours of late night banter, debates, and discussions featuring what ever they happened to be reading at the time.

Sarah and Toby spent the rest of the evening catching up on current events while splitting half a bottle of wine and a frozen pizza. Most of their conversation was circulated around Sarah's shop, The Escher Room, their parent's latest exploits, and their current romantic status.

"How are things going with you and what's-her-name?" She wrinkled her nose trying to recall the name of the woman her brother had long been involved with.

"Rachel." Toby supplied for her before taking a sip of wine.

"We're not together anymore." Toby muttered bluntly with a slight grimace. There was no point in sugar coating the truth. "She left me."

Sarah just nodded. She couldn't help but not show much surprise.

Her brother was a good man. He was mostly patient and even tempered with decent prospects, but Toby was of a solitary and private nature and hadn't much need for companionship it appeared. Most women that Sarah was aware he'd been involved with had been attracted these traits in the beginning.

She imagined they fancied him mysterious and eccentric but they hadn't understood later when the novelty wore off and he refused to cater to their white knight expectations and needy coddling.

"What did it this time?" Sarah inquired.

"She apparently felt I wasn't supporting her ambitions." Toby replied with a frank shrug that neither held anything back nor gave anything away.

"Which were…" Sarah had a feeling this particular break up was more serious then the others.

Rachel was the longest relationship Toby had ever had with a woman. Their courtship had spanned just over two and a half years as far as she could recall. Until Rachel, three to six months had been the extent of Toby's long term relationships.

Despite the length of their involvement Sarah had never actually met Rachel in person. Typically Toby hadn't liked putting his relationships on display, with the exception of the obligatory dinners with the parents. Besides, every time Sarah had heard Toby discuss the woman it always seemed to come on the tense shirt tails of a fight they'd had. Basically Sarah had never liked the idea of someone like Rachel. In fact Sarah generally didn't like anyone who took pleasure in squashing down the esteem of others, particularly when Toby was the one being hurt in the process.

"Rachel is the family type. She wanted the whole package. The devoted husband, the half dozen children playing with the dog, the white picket fence with rose bushes round the side. She wanted it now, right away, before the prime of her life was over. When she realized she couldn't change my habits and mold me into giving her those things she cut out for greener pastures." There was a hit of rare pain in his eyes as he said this before he continued onward.

"I understand she's met a school teacher or some such and they're now madly in love and expecting their first little one. I don't know. It seemed kind of sudden to me but that's what I've heard. Who knows what's true anymore." Toby went silent a moment his eyes fixed unseeing into the depth of his glass.

"At any rate I figure that things are as they should be. I can't really see myself as being a settling kind of man. At least...Not yet. Anyway...What about you? You haven't gone and found someone I should be worried about, have you?" A playful grin suddenly reappeared on his lips and Toby was once again his usual self.

Sarah was pushing nearly forty and while she'd had her fair share of serious relationships she had yet to settle down, much to the horror and disapproval of people like Karen. The fact was that not everyone dreamed of the family life. Sarah was very happy to be as she was. She had a successful business and a comfortable lifestyle. Even though she'd never settled down romantically with any of the men she'd dated, Sarah had created strong life lasting friendships with them and their families. She felt no absence of respect and love in her life and that was more then enough for her. As for the children factor, Sarah felt that she would in fact not make a very good parent. She had long since acknowledged that she was a self-centered person and more partial to the role of Aunt and Godparent than mother.

"Nope." Sarah said with a satisfactory sigh.

The night's conversation shifted easily into unimportant, but no less interesting, topics about this and that and carried on late into the night. Finally the siblings parted agreeing that it was more than time to pack it in for the night and ambled off to their respective rooms on opposite sides of the cabin.

If there was anything to be said about Sarah and Toby it was that their bedrooms truly reflected their natures. Once Sarah had grown old enough to move out of her father and stepmother's house her belongings she'd chosen to leave behind had been carefully put away and moved to the cabin. This was not due to some malevolent desire to erase her from the home she'd grown up in. It was simply a gesture of forethought by her parents. Sarah had always been more attached to the cabin then the house and her father and Karen had thought it better to keep Sarah's things in a place she really loved and where the family was more likely to spend time together in.

Now as Sarah gazed into the warm contents of the room a flood of memories over took her. The room was neat and organized with childhood books and toys gently put on display where the mold wouldn't infect them on shelves and in crannies. Posters and whimsical paintings of fairies and distant mist enveloped castles lined the walls. Sarah's old vanity sat against one wall of the room. Her empty makeup pots, vintage perfume bottles, and brushes were displayed neatly upon it. Ancient board games and puzzles were stacked upon the closet shelf along with a collection of Sarah's old costumes and other garments she hadn't had the heart to get rid of despite the the fact that she could no longer fit into most of them. There was however one Item that her gaze always sought. It was the music box.

There it sat on the bedside table next to the lamp. Sarah entered the room and gently came down upon the soft comforter of the bed as she carefully picking up the music box to examine the extravagantly dressed woman in its center.

There was a time when this porcelain painted glimmer had been the image of fantastic dreams. How many times had she imagined herself as this woman when she was a girl and been envious of the grace and the power the image invoked? Even now Sarah felt a twinge of nostalgia as she wound the gears to hear the tinkle of the nameless music play and animate the woman in her solitary dance.

As it played on vague half remembered memories of swooping wings and sparkling orbs drifted elusively across her memory along with the half imagined outline of a tall imposing figure that seemed to reach out imploring her to forfeit something it was not in her power to give.

Sarah replaced the trinket upon the bed stand as the music finished and the dancer halted once more. Dreams were powerful things and in them were lessons that gave the means to grow beyond one's own limitations. It was time to go to bed.

Being that Sarah was not a morning person Toby rose first to greet the blustery snow ladened day of the following morning. It was his habit to rise early usually before six regardless of how much sleep he'd gotten the previous night. Yawning briskly and rubbing a palm through his matted hair Toby stopped to survey the room as he always did after being so long from it.

It was, to say the least, a cluttered nest of things. The dresser and night stands were a mess with vast volumes of books, maps, and puzzles of logic scattered in organized chaos across their surfaces. Discarded clothing and crumpled paper littered the floor in hap hazardous piles.

Upon first glance the room looked exceedingly lived in however there seemed to be few items of personal significance actually presence. Indeed, for all the books and papers that were strewn about the room, it might have only taken a moment to gather up their numbers and carelessly whisk them away without a backward thought of concern or grief.

This was not to say that Toby did not entertain any attachment to his possessions, rather, there were very few items he deemed irreplaceable. Three items to be exact fell into that category, two of which had been passed onto him by Sarah.

The first was a now quite dilapidated, but no less adorable, teddy bear that Sarah had passed on to him during his infancy. The bear, affectionately named Sir Lancelot, resided to the present day with Toby wherever he went.

The second was a finely crafted wooden maze that Sarah had put into his permanent care when she'd left for college. He'd only been seven then and had been extremely put out by Sarah's necessary departure. In order to distract the disturbed little boy, Sarah had entrusted him with the security of the mock labyrinth. Many a time had the siblings spent captivated hours huddled with the square mass on the floor as Sarah carefully helped her little brother chart the route to the labyrinth's center.

Apparently being so young at the time, Toby had taken his assigned station very seriously to the point were Karen had expressed mild concern in regards to his possessive protectiveness over the wooden toy. Now it was simply a beloved heirloom and retained a permanent position upon the small desk just under the window of the cabin room.

There was, however, a third item, a well guarded and admired thing of which Toby carried with him always on his immediate person. These days he kept the spectacle in a silk handkerchief to protect it from the temperature and other afflictions. It was a clear crystal ball just small enough to fit comfortably in one's palm. There was no explanation for how Toby had acquired it or where it had come from. He only knew that for as long as he could recall it had been with him. As a child he'd horded it carefully, fearful that his mother or father might take it away if they saw him playing with it. Toby had not even let Sarah in on the secret of this possession and it was rare that they had any secrets between them.

As if by shear instinct alone, Toby was aware that the crystalline wonder was something very special. Some times when he grew restless he would draw it from his coat pocket, carefully remove it from its rapping, then gently roll it about in his palm. Sometimes, every so often, when the light hit it right and it turned a certain way the quiet recluse could have sworn there was the makings of dreams hidden within its flawless center.

Toby dressed quickly for the day in a very worn pair of dark denim jeans and a slim black sweater. Even when casual he never failed to bring a level of refined eloquence to his appearance.

Scowling darkly when he noticed it had started to snow again, for a moment Toby wickedly considered shaking Sarah out of bed and putting her on shovel duty for the morning. He ultimately decided against this however when, upon poking his head into her bedroom, he found her to be soundly sleeping. Sarah had looked so peaceful and serene that Toby hadn't had the heart to rouse her from her tranquil slumber.

Finishing with a necessary trip to the bathroom and his vigorous grooming rituals, Toby jerked on a pair of thick woolen socks and his boots with the hope of arming himself as best that was possible against the elements before he grimly trudged out into the frosty morning air to make war on the white drifts of accumulated snow.

This, he reflected, was going to take awhile.

Later on, back in the cabin Sarah sighed contently as she snuggled deeper into the warmth of her comforter. In spite of any and all protests it had been worth coming to the cabin and Sarah quietly admitted to herself that she'd been away far too long from the simple pleasures such visits provided her. Sarah yawned gently and would have turned over and continued sleeping had the smell of bacon cooking not infiltrated her senses and stirred her into contented wakefulness.

Sarah stretched and sat up with lazy energy. It was nice to be able to sleep in for once without having to worry about shipments coming in and deadlines to meet. Not bothering to change out of her pajamas Sarah glanced at the wind up clock on the nightstand. It was after ten and Toby had probably been up for a good four hours before her, she surmised.

Yawning again Sarah got up and padded to the bathroom then out into the living room and kitchen where Toby was already up and preparing a late breakfast for them.

"Good morning Brown Eyes, you sure took your sweet time." Toby said with mock haughtiness as he turned bacon in one skillet while managing pancakes on another.

Sarah smiled at him sidelong as she muttered a bit fuzzily, "Yeah someone kept me up late last night talking."

Toby busied himself with flipping a pancake.

"Yes. Well I seem to recall a certain someone cracking open another bottle of wine and refusing to go to bed until a substantial dent had been made in it. By YOU if I remember." Toby arched his eyebrows at her.

Sarah went red in the face. She wasn't one to drink excessively and even when she did she handled her drink remarkably well. "Uh…yeah…Shut Up! It's not like I wasn't eating at the same time and I didn't hear you protesting to a glass or THREE."

Toby snickered and refused to admitting or deny his guilt in the events of the former night and let the topic go. He knew the subject of drinking reminded Sarah of her college days during which the raven haired beauty had become something of a legend due to her ability to drink just about anyone under the table and still come out well enough to take a term exam and pass with flying colors a few hours later.

It wasn't exactly an awesome feat. Anyone who had any sense about alcohol knew that as long as you ate equally to drinking and gave time for the alcohol to burn out you could almost always avoid the annoyance of the usual hangover after effects.

Again their day and evening was filled with laughter and merriment. There was no place to go out of the cabin thanks to a climatic change in the weather that had driven what was intended to be heavy snow fall into a full out blizzard. So the sibling decided to spend their afternoon crouched on the floor playing an ancient version of mystery date Sarah had found under her bed.

No matter how old they got it never failed that the two of them would eventually digress into old childhood habits. Toby for instance was building himself into a right sour mood due to his poor strategic position in the game. If there was one thing Toby didn't take well it was losing and at this rate he was liable to work himself into a fit.

"Fiery crimson hell! Look at this." Toby indicated wildly at the board. "I can't even get a damn date in a board game, and they're GUYS no less!" Toby's face was starting to go red around the nose, cheeks, and ears. All subtle signs that he was actually getting genuinely angry.

It was taking a great deal of self control for Sarah not to burst out into hysterical laughter at the spectacle.

"Look. Maybe we should just stop you might not be able to handle much more of this." She managed to choke out before busting out into uncontrollable laughter.

"Oh it's all fine and dandy for you to laugh you've got dream butt over there! What do I get? Probably the geek with the wilted flowers and the horned glasses!" Toby fumed waving his hands haphazardly about to emphasize his point.

This response made Sarah laugh even harder forcing her to fall completely to the floor so her back would stop hurting.

"Oh, oh it hurts! " Sarah rolled back and forth on the floor.

"SARAH! Are you done already?" Toby was sulking now his arms crossed childishly over his chest and his lower lip sticking out in a scowl that resembled a four-year-old's pout.

Momentarily incapacitated it was all his sister could do to shake her head "No" and continue her revelry.

Grimacing, the put out younger man got up with a grunt.

"I think this calls for presents and pie." He muttered abandoning the game where it lay.

Christmas was not for another three weeks but the Williams family schedules were usually so frenzied it forced them to celebrate together unfashionably early. It was a tradition of Toby and Sarah to give each other their gifts early before they met up with their parents while splitting what ever choice desert one of the siblings had been assigned to bring. Usually the gifts involved private items that the two siblings shared strictly between them.

Once the board game was cleared, the pie and presents gathered. The fire was stocked while Toby and Sarah settled back down comfortably on the floor. Toby looked in far better spirits then he'd been just a few moments ago and Sarah was still glowing radiantly from her laughing fit.

"I'll go first." Muttered Toby noting to him self how young Sarah looked just then. Though she was older, Sarah was his pride and his light in an otherwise overshadowed world.

In spite of all his disillusionment Toby had to but look at Sarah and regain some faith that not all humanity was so far gone, a lot of these feeling were keyed into the still freshly bitter wounds Rachel had ripped into him. No matter how hard he tried to convince himself otherwise deep down Toby really had wanted all those things Rachel had left him for, he simply wanted them in his own time and on his own terms.

Sarah watched her brother as his attention becoming far more acute. I seemed that he had been thinking about something awfully hard a moment ago. Sarah was sure she's seen that rare pain in his eyes again. Now however any such expression was gone and an elusive glimmer replaced it as a thin wide grin slide unto his face. Uh oh. He had that look again. What ever it was that he was intending to give her this year he obviously thought himself quite clever for it. Sarah inadvertently felt the hair raise on the back of her neck. As much as she loved her brother sometimes Toby had the most amazing ability to wig her out with his expressions.

"I thought," Toby began, his grin widening into a more genuine smile that revealed his white teeth. "That you might be wanting this back. I seem to recall you reading it quite often when you were younger."

As if almost out of thin air Toby produced a small leather bound book long worn and stained with childhood love. Though quite cracked from age the gold inlay of the title was still clearly visible.

Sarah's mouth dropped. The book, if indeed it was what she thought it was, hadn't been in her possession in nearly twenty years. "Oh my God! Labyrinth. Where did you find this? I thought there weren't any other copies in existence."

Labyrinth had been written by an unknown English gentleman sometime in the 17th or 18th century. Mysteriously the story had been part of a collection of miss-matched diary entries that had later been found by one of Sarah's ancestors. It was then woven together and written into a stage play by one of her great, great relatives, on her mother's side. The author in question had apparently vanished without a trace, or so legend had it. It was speculated that he'd run off and died from lack of will when the woman he'd secretly loved had scorned his advances and betrayed his trust.

The stage play sadly never made it out of the hands of her family and was never reproduced save for the original entries. The small leather bound book had been passed down through her grandmother to her mother, and then to her. Sarah had loved it dearly and admittedly hadn't taken as great of care with it as she probably ought to have.

Oh but how she'd loved it!

Not only had it been a lovely tragic story but Sarah had always liked to think that it was based on some fantastic truth from earlier times, which made it all the more romantic. When she'd gone off to collage the book that had been secured in her vanity drawer and had supposedly become misplaced when her parents had decided to transfer her belongings to the cabin. At the time it had been a tragic loss given that it was something so irreplaceable, but like all things lost Sarah had moved on and mostly forgotten it.

Toby sounded a satisfied grunt. He had been correct in his assumption that the small book had hefty significance to Sarah and it pleased him greatly to return such a treasured item to her. Plus it was of a personal interest to him that it indeed was the same book she'd had in her childhood since he'd been harboring the original journal entries that were used to write it for some time now.

Toby had come across the ancient writings during his late teens when his parents agreed to let him move into the spacious attic if he was willing to clean it out and sort through all the antiquities. Given his love for history he'd been overjoyed to undertake the project. Most of the items weren't really that valuable. The attic had become a sort of catch all for anything his parent hadn't had room for on other parts of the house. Most of it was wholly ordinary and easy to come by, but a few items were genuine European antiquities left over from when Sarah's father had been married to his first wife.

If he'd been initially disappointed by his findings in the attic his time and interests had been more then compensated when he'd discovered a large 17th century chest near the back of the attic holding a number of priceless treasures. There had been everything from European books to period clothing and jewelry that spanned three centuries. Although it was very likely that many of the items had been reproduced for the use of stage performances.

Among these oddities there had been the diary entries browned by time and fragile to the touch. Later the small satchel the papers had been secured in as well as the documents themselves would prove to be of legitimate age and authenticity for the period. It had been a secret obsession if his for some time now to find out all he could about the mysterious legend surrounding those entries and the man that had apparently written them.

"You know," Sarah said smirking suddenly. "I had the most amazing dream featuring this story once. I'd almost forgotten all about it but now that you've returned this some of it's starting to come back."

Toby had just taken an enormous fork full of excellent fruit pie and was in mid chew. "Wan ell me wha ie wah abow?"

Sarah scratched one furrowed eyebrow trying to recall the hazy details. "I don't quite remember. It was very thrilling though. It featured the maze, lots of glitter and strange stuff; there was a lot of running around and oddities if I recall…"

Sarah was suddenly getting a glazed look in her eyes almost as if she were transported somewhere else.

"Then there was dancing." She sighed a moment and the light came back into her eyes. She was again in the present.

"You even made an appearance, brat." Sarah smirked and flicked some pie crust at him.

Swallowing Toby smiled lightly.

"Yeah, even then it was obvious you loved me. All that foot stamping and pouting, and that "It's not fair" business was all for show." Toby had a strange look in his eyes as if he himself was rehashing some old memory.

This was something he did periodically when they were together. A lot of times these moments manifested in comments that had to do with when Sarah was a teenager and he was an infant. They were things that he shouldn't have been able to recall. Sarah had just come to accept it as natural. In fact most of the time she didn't really think about the specifics of some of the things he said.

"Right, come on.." Toby nudged her in the leg with his foot. "It's your turn."

Sarah suddenly spread her own mischievous smile. Toby might have seemed a little different now and then, a little 'strange' as Rachel had accused him of being before she promptly walked out of his life with her nose in the air and the door in his face; Sarah, however, was a true odyssey, particularly when she smiled.

There was something about her that instantly captivated a person and hooked them for life. There had been many men and even a few women for that matter, who had sought the secrets of that smile and Sarah had easily danced out of each of their reach. Perhaps some of them might have won her interest had they ever bothered to pursue Sarah beyond the point of their initial captivation.

As for Toby, he thought that perhaps no one had successfully managed lay claimed to his sister's affections because each of them had recognized, through Sarah, the true directions of their own paths.

As for his sister, she seemed quite convincing in regards to her content with her role as guide and moral compass. Almost.

Turning half around where she sat, Sarah slipped her hand under the couch and pulled out a small rectangular object wrapped in brown paper.

"You always have such trouble in your work what with handling artifacts all the time." Sarah commented watching how carefully he open the paper.

Each fold was loosened of it's tape restraints and folded carefully back as to avoid damaging the paper, his attention had zoned down to critical mass. Toby was the only person she knew who took such care with even the most trivial matters. He was always completely aware of his actions and their effect on his outer environment.

Toby lifted the supple material gently examining it a moment. "They're beautiful."

The gloves were of a thin but insulated black-brown material well fitted to his defined thin hands. They were perfect for him, meant to be worn. Meant to create a physical barrier between himself and the fragile things he handled. They were meant to wield authority and precision. Meeting Sarah's intent eyes a moment so that he could relate through his own just how accurate her perception of his needs were he gave a ever so slight smile and easily slipped them on.

"You know me way too well." Toby finally said shaking his head as his smile broadening.

The night continued on as it had before. Sarah and Toby divided their time reading to each other, drinking, and distracting one another with conversational tangents. Though the night seemed peaceful enough, little did the siblings know that trouble was brimming on the snowy horizon; and it was, with some single minded determination, heading their way.

"So…When exactly did you and Rachel split up and why didn't you tell me, Toby?" Sarah was bored with the book she'd been reading and suddenly felt like talking.

"I mean, I feel bad that I wasn't there for you." She admitted. Sarah couldn't shake the nagging feeling that there was more to this relationship crisis with Rachel, then Toby was letting on.

"It's been exactly eight months and nine days." Toby said flatly after a long contemplative pause. Apparently he was still counting down the days.

"As I said…" He tilted his head to the side, his face turning away from Sarah's. Toby's eyes had slipped shut as if he were trying to get a grip on some deeply felt emotion that was threatening to overwhelm his tightly maintained control. "She left me and I can't really blame her for it."

A twinge of pain griped Sarah's heart as she watched her brother silently grieve. She hadn't wanted to bring up the subject of Rachel again. However, Sarah wanted to know just how much Toby had invested into the relationship. It seemed, more then she had originally suspected given his current reaction.

"Oh Toby…" Sarah rose from her seat across from him to sit beside her little brother so that she could give him a comforting hug. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked about it."

"Hey…It's OK big sister. Really. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. Its better this way, you know? I'm traveling all the time. There's the museum and Historical Society work I'm involved in…It just wouldn't have worked to get married and start a family. I'm just too overly committed. It wouldn't have been fair to Rachel or anyone else we brought into the world. I loved her, Sarah. But enough to change for her?" Toby shook his head, no but deep down in the private area of his heart he knew he was lying. He would have done anything for Rachel. Toby would have turned his life completely upside down for her. All she'd had to do was ask.

Of course being the wise older all knowing sister that she was, Sarah knew not to believe Toby's carefully constructed facade. However, she wasn't about to push the subject if he didn't want to discuss it.

"Does, Mom and Dad know?" Sarah wanted to be prepared in case Toby hadn't told them yet.

He wasn't always forth coming about the things going on in his life. Particularly to his parents. Sarah might have been considered Karen's daughter, but Toby was Karen's blood child. In a perfect world there wouldn't have been a difference. However, they were not living in a perfect world and if Karen tolerated Sarah's lack of romantic pursuits, it was with the hopes that Toby would be inclined to swiftly settle down and choose the domestic life over his lofty work.

Rachel had been the epitome of everything Karen had wanted for her son. Hence, why Sarah wanted to make sure she knew exactly what was safe to say and what would cause unwanted trouble for him.

"Of course not." Toby muttered making a face. "Do you honestly think I would tell dad, let alone, mom something like this before I told you first? You really have been away too long." Toby teased, as a shadow of a grin returned to his face before he nudged her lovingly with his shoulder.

"Well I don't know, now do I?" She replied with a smirk. "Your going to have to tell them eventually though. At least she broke up with you, so mom wont be able to go on about how you need to re-prioritize you goals again."

"No. Worse…" Toby grinned and made a face of mock horror. "She'll be motherly and sympathetic. Oh the humanity!"

Sarah laughed and half heartedly smothered him with a pillow in response. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that you should treat your elders with respect?"

"Nobody who wasn't my elder. It seems like a rather biased manner of thinking to me." He replied smartly.

Sarah and Toby spent the rest of the evening laughing and turning simple childhood games into drinking games. Now that the topic of Rachel had been cleared out of the way, the mood of the night had considerably lightened. The siblings were content with each other for company and even the snow seemed to be letting up enough for the roads to be deemed drivable by the all knowing people on the radio. Sarah and Toby had no way of knowing who was, at that very moment in time, intently heading in the direction of the cabin to meet them.


	3. The Coming of Rachel

It had been easy enough to Find Toby. When Rachel Weston had stopped by his apartment with the intention of convincing him to take her back, she'd discovered him out of town for the next several weeks. With little intention of letting that stop her it was an easy enough matter to coyly call Karen and, under the guise of planning the family Christmas trip with Toby, discover that he'd already gone ahead early up to the cabin in the Northern New Hampshire hills. Seeing as Karen had to practically break bones in order to get Toby to bring along any of his past girlfriends on family occasions, Karen had just about died and gone to heaven when Rachel had lead her to believe she'd be joining them for Christmas. That's how Rachel had not only found out where Toby was, but had also gotten directions to the cabin as well.

Rachel Weston had met Toby about two and a half years ago when he had been hired by a colleague of the esteemed Weston family to assist in evaluating the age and worth of several early American artifacts that had been unearthed during the renovation of the one of the old Weston family estates. The Weston's where one of the richest families on the Eastern North American coastline and Toby had come recommended by his tutors because of his vast knowledge in dating and placing artifacts, as well as his deftly efficient manner of working. Despite being only freshly out of college Toby had quickly over reached everyones expectations of him/ Rachel was nearing twenty three and had just returned home from Vassar with a degree in European art that she never intended on using when the two had met while Toby had been staying at the Weston's estate. Upon becoming acquainted with him, Rachel almost immediately set her eyes on Toby to full fill her newest matrimonial pursuits.

Matrimony and the social advantages it provided was Rachel's ultimate goal now that she'd appeased her father and finished college. Money she had in abundance, but if there was one thing Joyce Merlyn Weston had taught her daughter, it was that true power came at the heels of men; and that it was a woman's personal responsibility to gain that power even if it meant forfeiting up her own identity for that of her husband's. Toby had been an ideal choice for this ambition. He was attractive and college taught. He also came from a well established though lesser upper class family who had few, but nonetheless notable, connections in society. Most importantly Toby was immensely career orientated. Though he was likely unaware of just how much his budding reputation preceded him in some circles. Rachel had thus reasonably deduced that because of Toby's own personal ambitions, if she could somehow rope him into commitment she would most likely be left unchecked to make most of the marital decision without much interference by him.

So over the course of the several subsequent months Toby remained working on the Weston's property, Rachel had carefully put her plans to ensnare Toby into action. In retrospect, it had been incredibly easy. Rachel had appealed to Toby's love of history and used her own background in art to capture his attention and show that she had similar interests. In return, Rachel had gotten Toby to agree to be her escort at the many social functions her family organized in collaboration with the historical society they founded. She'd even convinced her father to give Toby an exclusive job as the Weston Museum's acting curator, the youngest in its history, while the actual curator was out of country on a anthropological dig. That had been the turning point in their relationship when Toby had formally asked her to move in with him.

As it happened, living with Toby Williams had proved to be far more difficult then Rachel had originally anticipated. Separately she had been able to control where they went and what they did. Rachel had been able to easily direct conversations and bring Toby around to her way of thought on most all prominent matters in their relationship. However everything changed once she was permitted into the most intimate areas of his personal life, Toby's home.

It wasn't long before Rachel Weston quickly discovered that Toby's intense interest in his work completely saturated every area of his life, both outside of his home and within it. Because she had lead him to believe she was just as intellectually deep as he was, Rachel found herself endlessly forced to discuss the most archaic of topics such as philosophy and logic. Both of which Toby loved to argue about whenever he got the chance. It was all so utterly boring to her, not to mention exhausting. Rachel's one saving grace when it came to Toby's love for intellectual discussion, was her father James Weston who happened to greatly like Toby and who often had him over to the house to engage in chess or to discuss one of her father's favorite unresolved legal cases. So it was an easy matter on Rachel's part to use her father as an intellectual buffer when she didn't want to bother pretending to be interested. Unfortunately these occurrences happened far more often then Rachel liked to admit.

James Weston had been a criminal state prosecutor before he'd gone into retirement. The two men had appealed to each other mostly because they both had similar attitudes toward the world despite the age gap that existed between their respective generations. Namely this attitude consistent of the general feeling that life in the world at large was, for the most part, a sad and disappointing, yet nonetheless wholly entertaining existence to be had. James had also taken to Toby mostly to annoy his wife whom the older gentleman knew was under the impression that he was ignorant in regards to her ideas about influencing people.

"That's the trick of it." He'd once said to Toby. "You have to allow them to believe they're being sneaky, when in reality you know exactly what they're up too. That way you still move forward, even if they think you're stepping back." Toby had liked the gentleman ever since and had missed their conversations when Rachel had cut him off.

For the most part the relationship had gone considerably well even if Rachel had to feign interest more than half of the time. At least Toby had been good looking, and God knew he was an accomplished lover; which of course were the lasting traits that had prompted Rachel to stick it out as long as she had. He might have been a bore during the day but Toby applied the same passion he had for his work into the more private activities of his life. So at least she'd never found herself disappointed in the general area of the bedroom.

The thing that had really pushed Rachel over the edge in the end, was Toby's strange obsession with something called the Labyrinth. It was the one thing Toby blatantly kept her in the dark about and the one topic that he refused to elaborate upon beyond saying that it was a research project having to do with a family heirloom he'd been investigating. It was a book or some such nonsense from what Rachel could guess. Despite Toby's apparent desire to keep that part of his work private, Rachel had found herself continuously surrounded by it. There wasn't a room in Toby's spacious bungalow that didn't have some sort of odd reference to his "project". The kitchen fridge was littered with cryptic post-it notes that only Toby seemed to understand and the office was almost always strewn with paper work, bizarre drawings, and piles upon piles of books. Rachel couldn't even relax in the den or the library without being surrounded by ghoulish looking paperweights of fantastical creatures, paintings of fairies and dwarves, and mystical looking crystals on every open surface.

Most people would have found Toby's choice of decor to be charming, eclectically eccentric even. But Rachel had hated it. As far as she was concerned it wasn't healthy for an intelligent grown man such as Toby to be so captivated by what Rachel considered to be a child's fancy. Magic castles, ghoulish goblins, and crystal balls where meant for the stuff of children's bedtime stories and games of make believe. Adults weren't supposed to be taken in by all that fantastical garbage. Regardless Toby seemed to be deaf, dumb, and blind to her carefully masked dislike; and her casual attempts to get him to make changes to his living style. Furthermore, she knew that if she couldn't wrangle Toby into appearing somewhat normal it would seriously damage her socialite ambitions. People liked interesting, but Toby was down right strange. Rachel's mother had gone so far as to call Toby 'bizarre' when Rachel had gone to her for advice one afternoon near the beginning of the end of their courtship.

"Your not actually thinking of procreating with him, are you dear? Passion is all well and good, but it is not easily controlled. Passionate individuals beget wild passionate seeds. Are you really prepared to take such risks?" Joyce Weston had said in a condescending tone to her daughter.

Rachel's conversation with her mother had been the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. Despite the fact that Rachel was an intelligent, more or less independent, and practical modern woman; Joyce ruled her daughter. Lest this cause people to be over sympathetic to her plight, Rachel fully allowed Joyce to control her life. It was easier and it allowed Rachel to avoid guilt upon her conscience for the choices she made. That's when she'd broken up with Toby. There had been no warning; Joyce had advised her daughter to be swift and uncompromising about the entire business and it wasn't as if Rachel didn't have plenty of ammo at her disposal if Toby wanted to drag the breakup out for any length of time.

Above everything else that she could have used to stress her unhappiness in their relationship, Rachel abhorred the fact that Toby put his personal work before her and that he singularly avoided allowing Rachel too close to his family. She'd had dinner with his parents less then a dozen times in the year and a half they'd been romantically together and she'd never even met his older half sister Sarah. That was another thing, his sister Sarah. Whenever Toby wasn't going on about pointless theories and logical arguments, he talked with avid love and adornment about Sarah and their childhood together. If Rachel had been honest with herself she would have had to admit that she was green through and through with envy.

As long as they had dated Rachel had never heard the quiet admiration and loving awe in his tone when talking to her like he had when he talked about Sarah. Nor could Rachel make Toby's eyes light and glitter with the sight of her like they did when he pictured his sister. Rachel knew deep down that no matter how close she managed to get or how much she tried to play into him; Toby would never love her, would never look at her with the same purely radiant love and admiration that he held for Sarah. Rachel was aware that it wasn't that Toby didn't love her , it was that she herself was playing untrue with her affection towards him. When one came right down to it Rachel was using him, plain and simple. The thing she'd found was that as much as Toby was willing to bend to her will, he would not compromise his values for her, or anyone else for that matter. In the end Rachel couldn't help but shake the haunting feel that made her less than him as a person.

So as a last ditch effort to gain absolute control in their relationship, Rachel Weston had walked out on him. Rachel, prompted by her mother's stony will, couldn't tolerate someone she couldn't absolutely control and Rachel also couldn't stand that there were actually other things in Toby's life that were more important then she was tom him. Or at least that was what her mother had unforgiving ingrained in her to think. Rachel Weston had been been taught to believe that she deserved to be worshiped.

To rub salt in an already gaping wound, it had simply been icing on the proverbial cake to flaunt Daniel in Toby's face. Daniel was the Dean of the Presley Hill Boys Academy in Maine. Rachel had shacked up with the thirty-something gentleman almost immediately after she'd left Toby. The resulting pregnancy had been an accident, mostly. Joyce had suggested Rachel conveniently penetrate her diaphragm with a needle to make it look as if any impregnation were a freak thing of chance. Daniel had seemed the type who would marry a pregnant woman out of honor, or so Joyce had assured her daughter. She'd been wrong. Even the great Joyce Merlyn Weston couldn't account for everything after all.

Unlike Toby who had always been good with children Daniel had wanted nothing to do with the idea. After only a short three months of Daniel's too rough touch and absolute disregard for Rachel's personal opinions and needs, she had broken up with him only to find she'd had a false positive on her pregnancy test. It seemed nothing was going right since she'd walked away from Toby and as the weeks passed in neglected misery Rachel quickly began to realize just what she had stupidly thrown away. She my not have loved Toby but at least he'd treated her with rare gentlemanly respect even in the bitter end when she'd not only tore his heart out but labeled him a freak as well. Toby had allowed her to be her own person and hadn't tried to control her or turn her into something else. It hadn't been his fault that she hadn't truly been interested in him in the ways she had let on.

This was how Rachel had come to the desperate conclusion that she not only had to get Toby to take her back, she had to make certain he would marry her and fallow through with all their formerly idealistic plans. So now that she was armed with the directions Karen had given while unaware of the unfolding situation, and the false positive of the first pregnancy test; Rachel had concocted a crazed plan to force Toby into taking her back even if it meant using her nonexistent pregnancy to do it. She knew Toby would marry her if he thought the make believe fetus was his. He had to. Rachel would get what she wanted. She'd have the husband, children, social status, and esteem she so richly deserved. She was a Weston, Damn it!


	4. Strange Conversation, Stranger Company

Sarah yawned as the clock above the mantel struck the half hour. It was getting late, or rather, it was 11:45 and she was about ready to camp out on the couch for the night. Never mind that she had a cozy room just down the left hallway. How Toby managed to stay up to all hours and still wake up fresh and bright at six every morning, she would never understand. If he wasn't always so damn chipper about it the habit might not have been so annoying. When it came to Toby her general philosophy was to just accept, rather then give her self a headache by trying to understand everything he did.

The Labyrinth was a key example of oddness. With the exception of Sarah chancing to read it out loud over his crib when he was a baby Toby, as far as she knew, had never shown much interest in the book growing up; which made her wonder just how long Toby had been planning on waiting before he returned it to her. Sarah slowly flipped through the delicate pages of the small volume. Toby must have had it for at least the past few years and it was unlike him to just forget to mention such a thing, especially since he had known perfectly well how much it meant to her. So what was he doing with it before now? The entire thing was starting to nag at her a little. Not just the question of the book, but of just what had been going on in the last year with him. Toby was becoming…reclusive almost. That's what it was. Granted, she hadn't made much of an effort to stay in touch with her brother lately. It used to be that they'd go out to dinner or a movie at least once a month. These days however she was lucky if she got him on the phone.

"I've been working." He'd said in a slightly apologetic tone the last time she'd called him. Apparently that had become Toby's favorite excuse to use with everyone. It wasn't as if anyone could argue since it wasn't a secret how much time he put in at the museum and the historical society; and yet there was room left to wonder.

"Toby, what do you do?" Sarah asked suddenly between a yawn as she looked over her book to stare at him.

"Hm?" Toby was sitting at a large wooden table that the family commonly used to eat dinner on during the holidays when they were at the cabin. It seemed he was busy looking over an enormous puzzle he'd apparently begun before Sarah had arrived. "You know what I do, Sarah. I talk about my work at the museum all the time."

"Come on, Toby. That's not what I meant. I mean, what do you do. Like when you're not working. And don't tell me you've been keeping busy because that's not an answer." She said with a smirk.

Toby just shrugged as if there was nothing to say. He was doing it again, deemphasizing, which of course meant he had been up to something and he was purposely not saying what. "Since I've had a lot of free time as a singleton I've been working on a personal project of mine. It's no big deal really."

"Mm, hm." Sarah didn't believe him. Toby should have known better then to try and lie to her. "It wouldn't have to do with this, would it?" Sarah held up The Labyrinth as if it were some secret letter that had been intercepted.

"Sarah. I found it, I returned it. I thought you were happy to get it back…" He muttered easily skating around the topic.

"OK, fine. If this book isn't part of your "project", then why is there a yellow post-it note stuck to the inside?" Sarah arched an eyebrow knowing that she'd caught him out.

"What? Let me see." Toby had a rare look of surprise on his face before his brows furrowed and he got up from his seat to look at what she had found.

"Not so fast little brother." Sarah pulled the book out of his reach just as Toby was making a rather hasty grab for it.

"Sarah, let me see it. It might be important." He whined as he tried to figure out what part of the blanket she had it tucked under.

"You liar! This IS part of your project. Now are you going to explain, or am I going to be force to keep this yellow note as a bookmark?" She threatened him. That was the power of being older. One was automatically at a strategic advantage.

"Alright, alright fine. Look you know how this book is really old and all? It was passed down from Great Auntie Helen, to Grandma May, to your Mom…"

"Yeah. Then it came to me. Get on with it." Sarah already knew the story behind how the Labyrinth had gotten into the family. What she wanted to know was what Toby had been doing with it.

"OK, well when I was younger I was digging around in the attic and found the original journal entries. I've been trying to track down the original author ever since. I've poured over everything. I've had the original papers tested and I've even had the script analyzed. The thing is, I've finally discovered who wrote them. I've figured it out Sarah! His name was Sir Ethan David Coeburn Farringdon." Toby said pacing slightly in his excitement.

"God, why do they always have to drag out their names…" She muttered. "OK. So what does that have to do with my book?" Frankly she wasn't seeing the connection. Labyrinth had been written by one of her mother's ancestors and even if it was based on someone else's writings Sarah didn't see how the book was supposed to tell Toby anything.

"Sir Ethan Farringdon disappeared shortly after the last entry was written. I mean he literally vanished. I haven't been able to find any historical references or records anywhere that would suggest he left England or even died. I think…" Toby paused as if he were debating whether or not he wanted to tell Sarah his thoughts. "I think he was taken…or maybe not taken, but transported somewhere else."

"Taken? Transported? As in, Beam me up Scotty?" Sarah said with a chuckle as she quoted her favorite Star Trek reference. "That's a good one. Now, tell me seriously."

"I am being serious, Sarah. Come on, you're looking at me like I'm joking." Toby paused to look at her frustration wrought in his features.

"No. I'm looking at you like you're crazy. Toby you're talking about…about something that's not even rational. What? You're telling me you think aliens abducted this Sir Ethan guy?" Toby flashed Sarah a dirty look that made her realize he was actually being serious. "OK. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, he was transported someplace…other. Where exactly do you think he went?"

A slightly Cheshire grin slid on to Toby's face. Whatever he was thinking he obviously thought himself extremely smart for it. "The Labyrinth. He went to the Labyrinth, or more accurately speaking, the Faerie World."

"Toby, that tale about people being wished away to the Labyrinth is just a story that my great, great whatever, made up. It's doesn't really exist." Toby was talking crazy and Sarah started to wonder if perhaps this sort of thing was what had scared Rachel away.

"It does exist, Sarah. It has too. I can't prove it exactly, but I know it's real…" Toby shook his head.

As bizarre as this conversation was Sarah could tell that true or not Toby actually thought the Labyrinth was real. The logical part of her mind said it was impossible, the rational part wanted to call him crazy. Yet there was something deep in Sarah's heart that wanted to believe him. She couldn't help but shake the feeling of something vaguely familiar in her minds eye. Something that made her know, deep down in side, that Toby was right. "How do you know?" She asked quietly as she watched him.

Toby sighed as he shut his eyes and came to rest upon the arm of the sofa. "I've seen it. I've dreamed about it. For years and years I've dreamed about it. Like a birds eye view. It's as if I'm looking down upon it from some place high, like a tower or something. I thought I was just being delusional when I was growing up. But then I found the journal entries. They talk about the Labyrinth as if it were real, Sarah. They talk about it just as I've seen it in my dreams. That book, fictitious as it seems would suggest the possibility that it's real. That there's a way to get there."

"How? I mean if you're right, the only way the book illustrates someone entering the Labyrinth is by being wished away..." Sarah couldn't believe she was actually discussing inter-dimensional travel to fantasy lands with Toby. This was a new one for them.

"…or by making a bargain." He added. "Assuming that all fairy tales have a common grain of truth, theoretically if a person were to strike a bargain with...say an Elf for example, a reward or punishment might be entry into a magical realm."

"You're saying like if a person won they might have control over said Elf or have power in general." That's how it normally went whenever there was a deal being struck in the stories she remembered growing up. "But if they lost…" Sarah didn't finish the thought. She didn't have too. Toby was already one step ahead of her.

"They would be enslaved…or killed. Either way it's still a punishment." He finished grimly with a shrug.

"Well that's depressing." She muttered yawning again, "So how does that bring us back to transporting, or whatever it is?"

"I've been studying the topic for some time and my research basically supports the idea that the "Faerie Realm" isn't accessible to just anyone. They choose who they want to let in, or take, for that matter." Toby had that look in his eyes, the one that made it seem as if his mind where someplace far away. There was also a tinge of sadness in them.

A memory triggered in Sarah's mind at the mentioning of someone being taken. The entire conversation was starting to really wig her out. It was that dream she had had as a teenager. The more Toby talked, the more unsettling it became as the main theme of her dream started to come back to her. Could it be true? Could people really get wished away some place or become trapped in a strange world over a bet? Sarah was about to mention her dream to Toby again when a sudden shrill knock sounded at the Cabin door that made them both jump.

"Jesus! Who the hell could that be at this time of night?" Sarah looked at the clock. It was just a little past eleven fifty.

"Well it can't be Mom and Dad, not unless they flew up. Maybe someone stalled on the road. I'll get it. You stay put, just in case." He muttered walking hastily to the door.

Great. Weren't there slasher films that started off like this? Sarah couldn't suppress an involuntary shiver at the thought. Not to mention she was still rather wigged out by their conversation. Sarah didn't like to consider her self superstitious but she'd seen enough strange things in the past three decades to convince her that it didn't exactly hurt to believe in the unbelievable be they ghosts, goblins, or things that generally went bump in the night.

Toby had been prepared for a great many things upon opening the cabin door. He might even have thought it likely to find a crazed chainsaw totting lunatic on the other side. But when Toby opened the cabin door, he found himself standing before something not even he could have fathomed. There stood Rachel Weston, wide eyed and shivering. At that very moment Toby would have preferred to be face to face with a chainsaw totting lunatic. At least that would have been mostly humane, or at the very least, swift and painless compared to who he was now facing at the door.

"Rachel! What in blazing fiery crimson hell, are YOU doing here?" Toby was absolutely floored and could do little more then stand there before her stunned into paralysis. That's when he caught the look on her face. It was the look a woman got before she bursts like Pompeii into hysterics.

"Oh God, no. Please, I beg you. No. No. NO!" Toby was backing up like a raccoon caught in a live trap but it was too late. Rachel had already let out one enormous melodramatic sob before she'd launched herself at him like a rabid spider monkey and attached her self around his waist sobbing a puddle into his chest.

"Christ woman! Would you please get a hold of yourself and tell me just what the hell you think you're playing at by showing up here?" Toby uttered remorselessly as he pried Rachel off of him.

"Oh, Toby! I'm such a horrible person…I just…I just…Please forgive me!" She managed to blubber between gut wrenching sobs.

"Whoa, back up there! First explain what you're doing here…" Toby's emotions were sloshing around like liquefied jell-o but he wasn't about to give an inch.

"I'm here for Christmas, silly….Karen invited me. But Toby…oh, that's not why I came. I came for you Sweetheart…I came to tell you how foolish I've been…I love you Toby, I want you back…" There was a glazed look in her eyes like she didn't know where she was or what she was saying. If Toby hadn't known better he would have almost thought she was under the influence of something.

"Save it Rachel. You came here to beg. Tell me, did your Mummy put you up to this? Or are you just so desperate for a ring on your finger, that you're willing to degrade yourself by going through the trash for discarded goods? What happened to the school teacher you supposedly loved so much? Was he a blathering idiot too, or was he just bad in bed!" Toby let go of Rachel's lower arms that he'd been holding away from him and let her ungraciously drop to the floor in a sniveling heap.

"What is going on in here? Who is that?" Sarah came hastily into the kitchen where the cabin door was hanging open to see what all the commotion was about.

"That, my darling sister, is the pathetic rag of a woman I was stupid enough to fall in love with! Sarah, meet Rachel. I'm afraid she won't be staying." Toby said cuttingly.

"God Toby, she's a mess! What are you going to do with her now that she's here?" Sarah might not have liked the woman but she hated the idea of sending her off like a wrongly delivered package.

"Send her packing." He muttered sharply in reply. "It's all an act, Sarah. Don't fall for all that blubbering she's doing. The woman deserves no sympathy for what she's done and showing up here unannounced is just all the more reason to kick her to the curb. This is our family cabin, she has no right to be here and I seriously question how she even found out where the cabin was."

"Yes, it's true! I lied to your mother to find out where you were. But I HAD TO! The baby deserves to know it's father!" She crooned.

Sarah looked from the unmoved Toby to the hysterical Rachel and cocked a brow crossing her arms over her chest. "What baby?"

"The child she's supposedly having with the teacher, that is, if there's really a child at all…" Toby barked unconvinced as he stared daggers down at Rachel.

"You don't understand…it's yours Toby. You're going to be a Daddy! Isn't that wonderful? Do you honestly think I would lie about something like this?" She walled.

"Prove me wrong once, shame on you. Do it twice, shame on me. You're going to have to do better then that Rachel. You give me proof that the child's mine and then we'll talk." He spat. Had she told him any other time, Toby might have been fool enough to actually believe she was telling the truth. But not now. Everything was too fresh. Not ever again.

"Do you have proof of this?" It looked as if Sarah was going to be the rational voice in this situation since Toby had decided to be nothing but nasty and Rachel couldn't seem to mutter more then two words with out breaking into a new wave of tears.

"I have this…" Rachel practically threw the crumpled piece of paper at them.

"Rachel this is just a positive pregnancy test…" Sarah muttered as she tried to figure out what this had to do with proving anything.

"Check the date of conception. Go on, read it Sarah." Toby insisted though he already knew what it would say. He could tell by Rachel's ever so slight look of fear as she realized her plan wasn't succeeding at all the way she'd planed.

"Um," Sarah scanned the paper. "September, the third."

"See? She's lying. If she is indeed pregnant it isn't mine because we broke up the middle of August." He pointed out.

Damn her. Damn that horrible wretched wench! Rachel hadn't counted on Sarah being at the cabin. She had planned to come to the cabin, plead her case, and if that didn't work; she would seduce Toby. Rachel knew that every man had his weakness and angry or not she knew Toby still thought about her. She knew that he still was in love with her. Rachel could have easily used that to get to him and convince him to take her back, or at least, that's what she told herself. But Sarah had been at the cabin which destroyed her backup plan as simply as Sarah's rationality had just blown away her first one. The more Rachel thought about it the more the entire situation became Sarah's fault and not her own. Rachel had done nothing wrong beyond wanting her dreams. It was Sarah who had stood between her and Toby all along! Rachel HATED Sarah!

And then just like any natural disaster that struck without warning and with more then the same fury, something in Rachel snapped.

As quick as Toby's reflexes were, even he was caught unprepared when Rachel sprang from the floor to charge, claw like nails at the ready, not at Toby but at Sarah as if she had a mind to kill her. "You!" Rachel shrieked. "It's all your doing! You and that, that…Degenerate!"

Sarah's eyes went wide as she saw the dark blond fury fly at her, almost completely toppling Toby as she pushed past him. Rachel's body smacked into hers in a sort of cat like tackle and the two went down together in the archway between the kitchenette and the hall. At least Sarah had had enough time to brace herself and was somewhat able to hold the crazed woman off, as Rachel tried mostly in vain, to claw her eyes out. For once Sarah was actually glad that she hadn't ever grown up to be one of those women who turned down dessert for the sake of their waistline, because the only thing keeping Rachel from ripping her apart was that Sarah blessedly out weighed her by at least twenty pounds. "She's off her nut!" Sarah yelled as Toby regained his footing and came to rescue her.

As it turned out, the term "rescue" was more of a subjective suggestion rather then a constructive action. The moment Toby got Rachel around the middle to drag her kicking off of Sarah, the rabid woman turned on Toby for lack of being able to reach the other sibling.

"Sarah! G…" Toby wasn't able to finish the sentence because Rachel had just cold cocked him in the jaw. "Jesus Christ!" He crooned through a bloodied lip. To Toby's credit he managed to keep hold of Rachel despite the hit she'd gotten off him and the two were now engaged in a sort of elaborate tussle for control in the kitchen. "Go get the keys!" Toby barked as he held the struggling Rachel at bay and repositioned himself between Rachel and the hall to keep her from attacking Sarah again.

Toby didn't have to tell her twice. He wanted Sarah to get the hell away from the cabin. This option, though highly appealing, had one unnerving flaw. If Sarah fled the cabin for her car, Toby would be left alone to deal with Rachel, the psychopath, unassisted.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" She muttered as adrenaline mingled with the instinct to survive surged through her veins. "Where the hell are my car keys!" Of course, as if right out of a bad slasher film, Sarah couldn't find the keys to her Buick. Generally she lost them all the time but this was sort of a unique emergency.

"Sarah! You might want to…oh I dunno, HURRY THE HELL UP! Please tell me you haven't lost your keys!" He yelled over Rachel infuriated growls. For the first time in his life, true cold fear began to creep into Toby's heart. On something or not, Rachel had clearly bought the proverbial farm and she obviously was quite capable of seriously hurting one of them or worse if he couldn't keep her restrained. If one came right down to it, Toby really could have cared less about his own personal body. Being the sort of jovial though pessimistic individual that Toby was, he had always figured it would end badly for him. However Toby would burn in hell before he let anything happen to his sister. Sarah was the only purely good thing Toby had ever known within the otherwise corrupt, violent, dismally disillusioned, world they lived in. Without her to bring light into his darkness Toby might have forfeited up his stake in this worldly existence all together. That's why Sarah had to get away, far far away.

If she had failed in everything else Rachel wasn't going to fail in this one simple remaining task, regardless of what Toby or anyone else thought. Sarah was going to pay for everything! Everything Rachel wasn't and could never be. Taking her opportunity while Toby was momentarily distracted with the wellbeing of his sister, Rachel came down hard on Toby's instep with her single remaining stiletto heel. The impact was satisfyingly painful enough that Toby instantly let go of her upper arms. Rachel then elbowed him sharply in the solar plexus just for good measure before she wildly looked about the kitchen for a weapon.

With the wind completely knocked out of him, there was little Toby could do but sink to the floor incapacitated as he glimpsed Rachel grab the fire poker from the side of the wood burning stove and slink unsteadily towards the hall where Sarah was searching helplessly for her keys. To his horror Toby realized he couldn't even call out loudly enough to warn her.


	5. Crystal Balls and Magic Mirrors

It was amazing the type of clarity that came when one was at serious risk of being killed. Some people panicked into hysteria, others simply became so resolved in their impending doom that they quietly lay down and accepted their untimely fate. Sarah was neither kind of person. Now in her bedroom and oblivious to what was going on outside of it, Sarah was intent upon going down fighting if she had to. That's when she realized that the kitchen had gone dead quiet. Sarah could hear no movement at all which made one terrifying irrational thought strike her. Toby was dead. That lunatic Rachel had killed him and now Sarah was next.

So with this in mind Sarah did the most logical thing she could think of. She instantly took inventory of her room for a possible weapon. Unfortunately to Sarah's great dismay she generally found nothing in the room that was of immediate help to her. Oh yeah, at this point it was evident to the raven haired woman just how completely screwed she was. There was of course the window, but even if she did manage to climb out into the snowy moonlit night Sarah knew that without her keys she was looking at a death sentence whether she went or stayed. If Rachel didn't get her, the unforgiving elements would. That meant there was only one option left to her. Hide and pray that when Rachel came into the room, Sarah could take down the woman first. That's when she heard the most terrifying sound of her life; a lone stiletto heel thumping along the wood floor of the cabin hall.

There could be no mistaking that Rachel Weston was out for blood, Sarah's blood to be specific, though at this point anyone was fair game. Between Rachel's impromptu single minded madness, Sarah hiding within the dark depths of her bedroom, and Toby sprawled and heaving on the kitchen floor; it was little wonder no one noticed that the clouds that had been shrouding the vivid crescent moon began to part above the cabin like a beacon of earth real authority. Nor did anyone happen to see the white feathers of a barn owl flutter as it settled upon a nearby branch to wait; its black eyes seeming to peer in through the open door of the cabin at the man lying fruitlessly upon the cabin floor. That's when the clock upon the mantel suddenly began to toll the hour. It was approaching midnight.

Just about then Sarah was hiding behind the open door of her bedroom armed with nothing less then the heaviest book she had left over from her childhood. As it happened the book was a rather large illustrated volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales. It was ironic, though fitting nonetheless, given how most of those stories ended. Sarah's plan was to club Rachel over the head with it and hopefully knock her unconscious long enough for Sarah to call for help, if not for her self then at least to avenge Toby. No one killed, maimed, or otherwise hurt her brother and got away with it. Sarah listened as she subconsciously counted down the chimes of the clock. For some reason that she couldn't quite recall, since her mid teens, Sarah had always counted down the chimes that struck just before the midnight hour. _Three_. She could hear Rachel breathing as she neared the end of the hall. _Four_. Sarah braced herself against the paneled wall mouthing a silent prayer. _Five_. Through the crack in the door edge Sarah caught a glimpse of the tip of the fire poker as it preceded Rachel in the doorway. All she had to do was stay quiet and still.

Meanwhile Toby had been trying to regroup upon the kitchen floor as he focused and matched his breathing to the first few chimes of the clock. That's when he saw Rachel nearing Sarah's room where he knew his sister was hiding. Hell, no. Rachel wasn't going to get his sister. This had all gone too far. Pushed to action, by the time the clock had chimed six times, Toby had stealthily crawled his way down the hall towards Rachel; his eyes locked upon the metallic finish of her stiletto heel.

Rachel was just beginning to slowly poke her way into Sarah's room with one foot still in the hall, when the vanity mirror came into her line of vision giving away Sarah's position unaware as her form disrupted the straight line of light seeping through the crack where the door was attached to the wall. So the little vixen thought she could out smart her, did she? Rachel was just about to ambush Sarah by kicking the door the rest of the way open when she felt something suddenly latch onto her uneven ankles and forcibly pull.

"Sarah, NOW!" Just as Rachel was in mid fall and waving the fire poker around wildly Sarah, so enthralled to hear her living brother's voice, jumped out from behind the door and bashed the book down squarely over Rachel's head. Sadly for both the siblings all the double assault achieved was a fowl string of curse words as Rachel tried in vain to clip Sarah with the tip of the fire poker from the floor while Toby dragged her by the ankles into the hall. "Get away from the door!" Toby yelled at his sister while he was trying to get the poker away from Rachel as they struggled on the floor.

In truth there wasn't much room for Sarah to flee back into. Sarah's bedroom in the cabin wasn't very large and besides the closet, furniture lined almost every wall. Sarah might have tried for the bed if it hadn't been a mess with stuff she'd hauled from home. Wanting to get away from the floor Sarah eyed the vanity. Well, it was better then nothing. She thought as she scrambled to climb up onto it and out of Rachel's reach. The mantle clock chimed again. _Eight. Nine_. In Sarah's haste to stand upon the wood vanity her foot ungraciously slipped and made contact with the gilded music box she'd placed on its corner. It was all she could do to simply watch as the treasured thing went sailing to the ground breaking on impact. _Ten._

Just when Toby thought he was getting some control over the entire situation Rachel, who was now under Toby with the poker between them, used her strategic position to violently tug the handle of the poker towards her. Unfortunately for Toby there was just enough space between them that the sharp pronged end of the poker caught him painfully between the lower ribs. All Toby could hear was a cry of terror from Sarah and the sound of flapping wings in his ear as his eyes went wide with shock before Rachel coldly tried to push him off of her.

Now dazed Toby was barely aware of the white flash of a barn owl as the wild creature suddenly entered the cabin glided past and around him from the general direction of the open front door to momentarily claw and nip at a shrieking Rachel. Nor was Toby aware that the clear crystal orb that he always kept securely concealed in his shirt pocket had come loose and was now bouncing gently along the hall. So many times had he looked into the charmed thing and seen the makings of dreams within it. Now in a glimpse of an eye he was losing everything he'd ever cared for. _Eleven._

Terrified first by the image of Rachel impaling her baby brother, and then utterly disturbed at the sight of the local wildlife inexplicably joining into the already traumatic fray, Sarah found herself unintentionally clinging to the vanity mirror as if she wanted to back up into the glass itself. _Help._ she thought unable to take anymore as tears streamed down her face and her eyes pressed closed. "Somebody please help me."

_Twelve_. The mantle clock sounded the final long chime. _Please if you have any decency at all, take us away. Take us away from this place_. Toby thought blankly as his head hit the wood floor. Despite the injury and the intervention of the barn owl, never once did Toby take his hand from Rachel. Then the bird was upon him and Toby suddenly recalled a distant half remembered memory. A memory that seemed almost second hand, as if was not exactly his. "I've brought you a gift. It's a crystal, nothing more. But if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams." Toby's eyes fell upon the crystal orb that had come to rest in the center of the long hallway. That's when he thought he saw some thing in its distant shine. A labyrinth. Moreover, a castle that appeared to lie just beyond a ruined city in its center. In that moment never had Toby wanted his dreams to be more real. _Hurry_. The owl seemed to urge as the tips of its wings beat gently against his face like a mother's caress. "I wish." Yes. "I wish for us to return to the Labyrinth…" Just then the little hand struck the hour and in that brief span of a second, Toby let his eyes slip shut. "Right now."

In that very same instant just before everything seemed to melt into obscurity, two small wrinkled hands, one with a plastic pink beaded bracelet clinging at the wrist; emerged from within the reflection of the vanity to seize Sarah by the back of her belt loops before giving one mighty pull. Then everything went dark and Sarah suddenly found herself falling.

The next thing Sarah knew was she wasn't standing on the vanity any more. Moreover she wasn't in the cabin either. What the hell? Was she hallucinating or something? Sarah couldn't see exactly, since she was still squinting through her eye lashes. Where ever she was, it was warm. Like early summer and it appeared to be just a little after noon.

"Oh God!" Sarah cried suddenly, her eyes shooting completely open as she grabbed her knees to hug them to her chest. Some how she'd landed in a seated position, almost on the ground but not quite. "I'm dead." Sarah looked around rapidly. It appeared she was in some sort of walled arboretum of some kind. "And this is…someplace not good!" Wherever she was Sarah was hard put to call it anything conventionally pleasant. "But how the hell…" Suddenly the earth below her began to shift like it was alive and the faint sound of frantic smothered muttering started to reach her ear. "Geh opph uh meh. Geh opph uh MEH!"

"Ah!" Sarah shrieked scrambling to her feet before practically running sidelong into a scuzzy looking, stone fountain filled with mucky brown water.

"Gah! If this is the thanks I get for saving your life, then you can just forget about it! Cor. I'm too old for this junk…" The thing muttered angrily as it tried to get up.

"Uh. Di…Do you need help or something?" Sarah stuttered utterly confused as she watched what she could only guess was a dwarf struggle to get back on his feet.

"No! Believe me, landing on me was enough! Cor. Haven't you ever heard of just saying NO!" He muttered apparently referring to Sarah's diet. "You don't have the metabolism of a sixteen year old anymore ya know!"

"Well SOR-RY! Jesus. I'm nearly forty years old, what do you expect?" Why was she defending herself to a dwarf? "And..Huh. Forgive me for asking a potentially stupid question, but where am I?" For some reason her self proclaimed savior seemed trustworthy enough to bother for answers.

The dwarf seemed to only stare at her slack jawed in mild disbelief. "Gah. Well? Look for yourself and then you tell me. Cor. Doesn't even know where she is. Next thing you know she'll be ask'n who I am. Hah! That be some kind of gratitude for you. Friends…Who needs em. Bleh." He grumbled to himself waving at a long ladder that was resting against an engraved ivy covered stone lattice while he grunted getting fully to his feet.

Sarah looked from the ladder to the dwarf before she gave a long sigh of exasperation and walked over to climb the ladder and get her bearings. What she saw once she got to the top and looked over the wall nearly sent her falling back off the ladder. "Oh my God! It can't be! Wha…it…the…I'm in the labyrinth? Like…THE labyrinth!"

"Boy ain't you sharp! Where'd you think you were?" The dwarf said grumpily in reply while he dusted himself off.

"Not here! I mean it's just like this dream I had once…" Suddenly Sarah's eyes went wide as vague realization struck her. The dream! What if it was real? What if Toby had been right? This was the Labyrinth, there was no mistaking that. If she was here where was Toby? Where was Rachel for that matter? Did they somehow magically land themselves in the Labyrinth too? Sarah slid back down the ladder turning around to stare at the dwarf. That's when something shiny caught her eye at his wrist. "What is that!" She asked sharply pointing before she practically rushed at him to see.

"This? Oh. Nuthin!" The dwarf tried to suddenly put his hand behind his back as if he were embarrassed about something.

"Let me see that!" Sarah all but tackled the half sized man dragging his arm out so that she could see clearly. "This used to be mine…didn't it?" She asked referring to the pink plastic bracelet that until now she'd thought she'd merely miss placed. "I…I gave this to you didn't I…"

"It were a fair trade! Get off! Hoggle didn't promise nuthin!" He screeched jerking out of Sarah's grip.

"Hoggle?" Suddenly as if she were struck by lightening something went click. "Hoggle!'

"Wah! Don't kiss me! Don't kiss me! Bleh! Yuck! Sarah, get a hold of your self!" The newly identified, Hoogle, sputtered while Sarah was busy mauling him with affection. Apparently whatever memory loss she'd sustained it was gone, or nearly gone now and about time too. Hoogle was worried he'd have to smarten her up all over again.

"whoa! OK wait. This…this doesn't make any sense. I beat the Labyrinth, remember? Hello? Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered…Remember that? So why the hell am I back?" She muttered excitedly releasing Hoggle to pace around in bewildered circles.

"Gah! Do I have to explain everything? Cor. Look. All's I know is, you called fer help and I came. End of story. Bwah. The rest I don't know nuthin about." Hoggle muttered getting annoyed.

"So what, I just fell out of the sky like Dorothy's farm house?" Of all the places to land the Labyrinth was certainly no Land of Oz.

"Don't be silly. Houses don't fly. I pulled you out a there." Hoggle pointed at a vine covered wall not but three feet away from where they stood.

Sarah spun around to look at what seemed to be just a vine covered stone wall and after recalling her last encounter with such things in the Labyrinth, just nodded. Some things weren't meant to be understood. They just were. Maybe she could just walk back through it again. Wasn't it usually that simple?

Apparently not since even with Hoggle's superior expertise neither could get the supposed entrance to shift again. Sarah was stuck and there was nothing to be done about it. "Well that's just great. How am I supposed to get home, huh?" She groaned in frustration five minutes later with both she and Hoggle hadn't managed to succeed in finding where he'd pulled her out. "Well. There's only one obvious thing to do..." Sarah said making a waving gesture with on hand while the other rested at her hip.

Hoggle just stared blankly at Sarah and didn't comment right away. "Heh, what's that? Gah. Wait. I don't even wanna know…"

"We have to go to the castle. I want a word with a certain Goblin King." Sarah said decidedly as a look of narrow determination settled on her face. She was going to get to the bottom of this one way or another. Jareth owed her some sort of explanation.

As it turned out Sarah was not in one of the outer gardens like the one she had discovered Hoggle in years before. The dwarf had apparently pulled her out of one of the sculpted vine covered stone hedges reminiscent of where she had saved Ludo the Yeti from a few of Jareth's goblin guards.

Well that solved one problem. At least she wouldn't have to waste precious time trying to figure out how to get in.

"Please tell me there's a direct route to the castle…" Sarah muttered as she climbed up onto one of the egg shaped hedge statues to see if she could get a glimpse of the direction she needed to go in order to get closer to the castle.

"Well huh…" Hoggle hesitated.

"Oh god, you've got to be kidding me!" Sarah exclaimed sliding down off the statue to look at the dwarf. "Look this isn't a game. I'm stuck in a Labyrinth, which for your information I DID NOT ask to return too. I can only assume Toby is somewhere too, likely bleeding to death, and you're telling me I have to solve this thing all over again just to get an audience with a Tina Turner/ Mick Jagger wannabe Goblin king? Is that what you're telling me?" Sarah had taken one menacing step towards Hoggle and for once he looked more afraid of her then Jareth.

"Look it's not that easy. There are rules about this kinda thing!" He sputtered defensively.

"Oh I see. So you're telling me that there IS a direct route through the Labyrinth, but YOU'RE not going to tell me? Thanks! Thanks for NOTHING! I thought you were my friend!" The entire thing was beginning to agitate Sarah. She's learned a long time ago that life wasn't fair but her current predicament was down right ridiculous. "That's it!"

"Bah, Sarah! Where do you think your goin!" Hoggle exclaimed as Sarah suddenly took of in the wrong direction.

"Away from here!' She proclaimed as she disappeared down one row of stone. It was all Hoggle could do to try and catch up with her.


	6. Familiarity And Fustration

Sarah, it seemed, wasn't the only one to find her self in strange yet oddly familiar territory. Toby had managed to hold on to Rachel all the way up until the world had seemingly dropped out from around him. After that point the feeling of free falling had startled him enough to let go of the whirling dervish of a woman that seemed to be screaming her head off in his ear. Thankfully that didn't last very long once he quickly let go of her in the warm darkness. The last thing he heard was Rachel's screams fade into nothing.

At this point the only thing Toby could think was that Rachel had hit some major artery or organ and this was what it felt like to slowly bleed out and die. What a pity. It was a good thing that Toby didn't believe in places like hell. Then again he didn't much like the prospect of floating around in nothingness like he seemed to be doing either. While the whole experience likely only lasted thirty seconds Toby had just enough time to realize something strangely odd was going on when he thought he imagined a great white barn owl flying steadily away from him in the distance before his ears popped rather painfully and Toby felt his back hit…warm stone?

Willing himself not to panic Toby slowly opened one eye then immediately opened the other before scrambling to his feet. That however proved to be a slight mistake has he was suddenly painfully reminded that moving wasn't the most comfortable option considering he had a rather deep gash in the middle of his ribs. One thing was for sure Toby certainly wasn't in the cabin. Instead it seemed he was standing in a very large very empty looking stone corridor that smelled faintly of rotting hay and stale beer.

"Hello?" Toby asked aloud coughing shallowly. Besides the smell of hay and animal there was also quite a bit of dust for which Toby had apparently disturbed while getting up out of his awkward position on the floor. "Sarah? Is…is anyone one here?" That was rather a stupid question considering it was rather obvious he was alone.

"Ooo. Good job Toby. What exactly have you gotten yourself into now? OK Old dusty castle and no one around. I seriously hope I'm in a hospital unconscious somewhere. Sarah owes me pie for being a heroic brother. " He muttered out loud pulling the gloves Sarah had given him out of his back pocket where he'd stuffed them, to now place over his mouth and nose as he slowly inspected his surroundings. His other hand was pressed to his bleeding side.

Judging from the way the light splayed into the sand stone corridor Toby figured it was a pretty safe bet it was sometime around noon. That was odd. Had he some how lost twelve hours? Maybe he had in fact died and there really was some kind of an after life. Somehow if that was true Toby didn't feel very impressed. Wasn't there supposed to be like…glittery winged people in robes, or dead poets walking around arguing the meaning of life? From the looks of his surroundings Toby was standing in a dingy empty hall that seemed to be connected to a bunch of other dingy halls. That was just grand. Grumbling through the discomfort of walking Toby gingerly made his way carefully through a high archway that opened up into a large room. The smell of beer and animal was so strong Toby figured there had to be somebody around the place. That's when an over powering sense of de ja vu hit him.

The room in question was circular in design with an indented inner circle round the middle. To the immediate right stood what could have passed for a make shift chair rimed with some kind of great bleached horn. The room was littered with torn scraps of cloth, empty beer tankards, and other garbage that suggested it was a highly trafficked gathering place and the dust was disturbed enough to suspect the room had been inhabited by someone recent. For some reason he chair that seemed to be set up in such away to allow it's occupant to look out into the room reminded Toby of a somewhat primitive throne. It was all way too familiar to Toby to be a coincidence, he'd seen it all before some place. The entire experience of landing in such a foreign and yet highly familiar place was really starting to freak Toby out a little. The wigged out sensation he was experiencing only intensified when Toby swore he heard something snicker behind him.

"OK please tell me that was just a really really large rat…" Toby mumbled to no one in particular as he suddenly went into ultra eerie mode. Someone was definitely in the room with him. Of that he was sure.

"He's here!"

Out of the corner of his eye Toby thought he saw something dash across the room. It seemed like Toby was the topic of some great commotion going on around him that he was only vaguely aware of. Maybe if he'd had quicker reflexes he might have visually caught the source of the seemingly broken conversation taking place around him by more then a dozen creatures. The chatter apparently going on went something like this.

"Is it him?" Something asked to the left.

"What's going on?"

"I'm hungry…"

"Shut up you idiots!"

"Get off my tail."

"Where's the party?"

"Can we eat yet?"

"Shh! He hasn't met her yet you bulbous twits."

"Met who?"

"SHUT UP!!"

If Toby hadn't known better he might of thought he was losing his mind. Every time a new voice spoke Toby desperately tried to turn quickly enough to catch it but alas his efforts were in vain.

"This is ridiculous! All right you…er, I mean all of you. Come out! This isn't funny." Toby was visibly frightened by now and just a little dizzy from spinning around where he stood in an attempt to catch who ever was having the invisible conversation around him.

"I quite agree. Really let's have a moment of seriousness; I do believe a proper introduction is in order." A very feminine voice suddenly said above all the others startling the grating voices into a hushed silence. The new speaker seemed omnipresent and authoritative yet gentile and compassionate all at the same time. Like the other sounds within the room Toby was at a loss as to where the speech was coming from.

Toby, who had by this point been facing the throne where he thought he'd heard the last little dialogue occur, could have sworn he heard the beating of bird wings at his back as he quickly turned on his heels to discover in in a fright what had touched him. To his great surprise as soon as he spun on his heels Toby found himself nose to nose with a tall creature with very large dark depth less eyes.

"Hello."

"Ah!" Toby cried taking a step back as he tried to turn away only to get his feet tangled up in one of the rags that had been draped over the side of the throne which sufficiently caused him to lose his footing and fall back rather forcefully onto the make shift seat of the throne that was behind him.

"Who are you? WHAT are you? Stay away! Shoo!" Toby yelled waving his fingers in a repellent manner at the thing who had just greeted him as if that was going to do him any good while he buried his face in the elbow of his other arm.

"Oh can it, Toby. You're always so over-dramatic." The creature snapped back indignity. "Why don't you take a good long look for yourself and you tell me who I am." The woman muttered ignoring the fact that Toby was quite obviously scared out of his wits.

Gathering up what was left of his courage Toby pried his arm away from his eyes and did take a good long look at the figure standing before him. It was a woman without a doubt and one just as tall as he was by the looks of it. She was draped from head to foot in a kind of iridescent fabric that was not exactly transparent yet not quite passably solid either. It just sort of glimmered and waved like moon beams on water and after further inspection, which almost caused Toby to fall forward out of the chair, Toby could just make out a kind of brocade like under bodice that was inlaid with what looked like archaic spirals of sliver thread. Miraculously the material managed to capture and reflect every beam of limited light in the room causing a sort of glittering effect.

Her hands were slim with long beautiful fingers encased in delicate looking open fingered gloves the color of baked earth that disappeared up under her sleeves and her face was framed in a great white-blue cowl that hid the thick braid of sliver hair down her back. Upon her head was a large crown made of moon flowers, nuts, and birch branches twined together. There, at its center the headdress was finished with the symbol of a large crescent moon with its tips pointed up like a cradle. It was all quite a stunning sight to see and Toby might have rightfully thought it so if his eyes hadn't been locked on the gentle intelligent face of the woman donning it.

"Grace? Is… is that you?" Toby stuttered in utter disbelief as he staring with gaping mouth at the very familiar face of none other than Graceland Wittman, Sarah's favorite mentor and boss.

"In the flesh, Kiddo. Though, most folks know me better as the Good Mother down here." Grace or rather, the Good Mother said as if that explained it all. "Not a bad look for me, eh?"

"Down here?" Toby repeated. "But…but what about the store, and the pies, and…oh I dunno…REALITY!" Toby still had no comprehension of what was going on and suddenly madness was looking better and better to him as a satisfactory answer to all this insanity.

"Well," Grace only shrugged. "Even a Fairy Godmother has got to have a day job."

"Fairy Godmother. You mean as in glass slippers and carriages that turn into pumpkins?" He asked in utter disbelief.

"That one wasn't my work actually, but yeah, more or less." She said with a shrug.

"This can't be happening…" Toby muttered miserably.

"Well it is Kiddo and my advice to you is you better get with it and fast. You do realize where you are, don't you?" The good Mother inquired. "I mean if you haven't figured it out by now then we're in a lot more trouble then I thought."

That's when something suddenly went click in Toby's head. "I'm in the Castle; the one beyond the Goblin City in the middle of the Labyrinth."

Under other circumstances such a realization would have had Toby reeling in triumph as the theory he'd been formulating about the Labyrinth really existing would have been proven correct. However these weren't normal circumstance. "But how the hell did that happen? Last time I checked I was fighting off a crazed lunatic not making bargains with fairy tale…things!"

"No YOU haven't but Sarah did…or rather Jareth. Unfortunately for all of us that binds you by default." The Good Mother pointed out. "This in turn means we have something of a pressing problem on our hands."

"Oh. Really?" Toby snapped, it was true that he could be a real child about things when he wanted and this moment was a perfect example of how much of a brat he could be as he scowled like a little kid who'd just been sent to the corner. "And just what IS more pressing then me inexplicably landing myself in the Labyrinth? And where's Sarah or Rachel for that matter? We were all relatively in the same place. So where are they? What about the goblins? Just how exactly is any of this possible, tell me that! Explain it to me because I…"

"TOBY! Shut. Up." The Good Mother demanded and as we all know when a mother, fairy or otherwise, tells one to shut up it's usually a good bet to follow suit and do what she wants without asking to many questions. "YES you're in the castle I should think that was obvious. YES Sarah in here too and with friends. Your reappearance in the Labyrinth however marks a grave turn of events that happens to affect everyone so I suggest we address that issue first. How much do you actually remember about your last visit to the Underground?"

"I don't know. I mean I was an infant wasn't I? I technically shouldn't remember anything about it at all. I do remember that I was here. I mean it feels…so familiar. I also recall Sarah in bits and pieces; mostly from a distance. And then…" Toby stopped there suddenly and his eyes became very distant for a moment. "I remember there was a man. He sat right here watching Sarah and trying to entertain me. I have his eyes. I remember him saying that. But there was something else. He would disappear sometimes. I can only assume he went to meddle with Sarah and yet looking back on it he seemed almost desperately preoccupied with something else. Jareth! That's what his name was, I remember you mentioning him. He has something to do with why I'm here, doesn't he? Sarah, too? Well you can just magic him here, or ring a bell, or whatever the hell you people do. And have him send us home."

"It doesn't work that way. Jareth made a bargain. He gambled everything on your sister conceding defeat. Sarah wasn't supposed to run the Labyrinth. She was supposed to wish you away and take Jareth's offer in trade for you. However he never took into consideration that your sister might actually want to keep you. He never thought she might actually be determined enough to try and get you back once you were gone. That put something of a wrench in his plans I'm afraid, because according to the laws of the Labyrinth Sarah had the right to try and win you back." The good mother quickly explained.

"Fine but what does that have to do with anything? Sarah got me back and up until now we were living happily ever after...mostly. If Sarah won, why are her and I suddenly back here?"

"Sarah isn't supposed to be back, that crystal Jareth gave you was only supposed to be a ticket for you, but then again, there are other less direct methods of landing yourself in the Labyrinth and Sarah did make quite a few friends the last time she was here." The Good Mother said with a shrug. "The point is that the Labyrinth only really wants you. Toby, don't you see? Do you think it merely a coincidence that Sarah was able to wish you away to the Labyrinth when you were a child? That sort of thing went out of style quite a few centuries ago. Most people don't have the capability to cross worlds anymore and the people who can usually don't know they can do it. As I'm sure your research has proved people don't just get into the Underground randomly. The Underground has to want them first. The truth of the matter Kiddo is that the Underground is going through a period of change. A flux you might say. Every now and again the magic holding a part of our world together starts to unravel and becomes frayed. Certain patches like the Labyrinth for example become worn out. Generally that means the Labyrinth needs a new source of power to feed off of until it can regenerate itself. To accomplish this task a new consciousness needs to willingly take hold of the Labyrinth and re route the power while the loose ends are being repaired and the magic is patched."

"So you're saying this stupid Labyrinth wants to turn me into a circuit board and use me like a human battery? I DON'T THINK SO! At no time do I ever seem to recall signing up for that! Besides why do I have to do it? I thought this place already had someone to leech off of. Isn't that what Jareth was for? Where does he fit into this little scenario of yours?" At this point Toby had completely forgotten about his injured ribs and was now on his feet trying to defend himself.

"Jareth has no real power. He never did. He's nothing more then a second rate magician. After the last ruler fell, Jareth proclaimed himself Goblin King in his place. I think he intended it as a cruel joke; A way to mock himself for his unhappy position in the Labyrinth. About the only power he really has is that of illusion and trickery. When the Labyrinth began to break down Jareth thought he perceived a way to liberate himself from the drudgery of having to cater to the Labyrinth's will. As the time to find a new ruler approached Jareth challenged the power of the Labyrinth and a bargain was stuck. If Jareth could convince your sister to concede her right to claim you from the Labyrinth and seduce her into allowing him to have power over her Jareth could conceivably gain the ability to leave the Underground permanently. Naturally, Jareth was so desperate to gain his liberation he foolishly took the bargain at face value without thinking to lay down any stipulating rules which pretty much allowed the labyrinth free reign to get what it wanted while retaining Jareth at the same time. The catch is in failing to convince your sister to let him rule over her he actually succeeded in keeping you in the Labyrinth long enough for it to form an attachment to you." The Good Mother pointed out.

"Well's that just…the STUPIDEST thing I've ever heard! Of all the foolish, self indulgent…I can't believe this…" Toby began to protest as he lowered back down into the seat to think.

"Where do you think you got that crystal orb you've carried around all your life? Jareth gave it to you to play with when you were a baby and when Sarah won you back the crystal came back with you. You can't tell me you never looked into it and wondered where it came from. The orb connected you directly to the Labyrinth's power. You're here because you wanted to be."

"No. I did not ask to return to the Labyrinth. Maybe…MAYBE in a moment of desperation while I was fighting for our lives in the cabin I MIGHT have wished for Rachel and me to be someplace away from there so she couldn't get her hooks into Sarah…" He reasoned. "I NEVER said I want to get dropped back HERE!"

"Look Toby, whether you like it or not you called upon the Labyrinth for assistance and the Labyrinth being bound to you was forced to comply. So now you're here. DEAL WITH IT." The Good Mother said starting to finally become impatient.

Toby was visibly pouting at this point with is arms crossed in the chair. It might have looked almost funny if it hadn't been for the fact that has shirt was somewhat badly stained with drying blood.

"OK. Try to work with me for a second here. Once the Labyrinth managed to form an attachment to you don't you think it was just a little upset when Sarah pulled you out of its grasp and brought you back home? By that time you had already started to become part of the Labyrinth's power if you had stayed as a child instead of returning to your world the process would have been an involuntary transition. So you really wouldn't have had a say in the matter…" The good mother trailed off a moment to give Toby a chance to see where this was going. "But it didn't work out like that. Sarah did win you back and…"

"Now the Labyrinth can't force me to DO anything." Toby finished. Ah ha! Now they were getting somewhere. "This in turn means I have some say in all of this. Well in that case let me save you some trouble Grace or whatever the hell you're calling yourself by saying…NO. No, no, no, no. I want to go home right now. The Labyrinth is just going to have to find someone else to fill the position of Portable Human Battery Pack because I'm not available. Now if you'll excuse me Obi Wan, I'm going to go find Sarah and get the hell out of here!" At that Toby, in an act of defiance for his position, grimaced as he promptly stood up, turned, and then made a determined b-line for the nearest exit out of the room. It would have been all very dramatic had he not found himself instantly storming right back into the "throne room" that he'd just walked out of causing him to almost smack face first into Grace the Good Mother again. This startled Toby so much that a great gasping whoosh emerged out of his mouth before he once again tumbled backward this time missing the throne completely and landing with a loud thump on the stone floor knocking the wind out of him as his ribs were badly jarred.

"As you've noticed you can't leave. Also if you haven't figured it out Jareth isn't here. I can only assume he's out in the Labyrinth somewhere. I don't know exactly since I've been slightly preoccupied. At the moment it seems he's been evicted from the castle." The Good Mother muttered. "Anyway you're too important to us. Trust me Kiddo, if it were up to me I'd send you packing but the truth of your position is it's either step up or go down with the rest of us. I will do this one favor for you, though my influence is limited in the matter. I will personally do what I can to keep the goblins contained and the fabric of the Labyrinth together while you come to grips with what must be done. I can promise you no more then three days before a choice must be made. Beyond that not even I can say what could happen. I warn you however that the goblins are becoming restless. Their magic is chiefly what the labyrinth uses to function. If control is lost their power will become chaotic and that is a very bad thing. You have thirty-nine hours. Please Toby, for all of our sakes try to be a little sympathetic to the situation. I will check in with you as periodically as I can." With that the Good Mother backed away from him and her robes suddenly fluttered as if a great wind was passing through the room.

In a blink of an eye the woman that had been standing before Toby seemed to go through some sort of transformation and the last thing Toby saw was the wide wings of a white barn owl beat away and out of the room as his vision began to blur causing the wounded young man to finally pass out into the void of unconsciousness.


	7. The Saving Of a Man In a Tree

Meanwhile, somewhere in the labyrinth, Sarah was trying not to cry for her frustrations. When she finally did pause around a particularly high part of the stone wall she wasn't surprised when she realized Hoggle was no longer with her after she'd taken off on him in anger. Just where were the rules written about the Labyrinth? It was bad enough Sarah was already at an extreme disadvantage let alone that besides it not supposedly being the way things worked there was actually no real reason Hoggle couldn't have at least pointed her in the right direction.

The futility of it all felt overwhelming. Even if she did by some miracle find the castle what was she going to do then? Beg to be brought home? Yeah, somehow Sarah just couldn't imagine Jareth doing her any favors. For all she knew this could all be completely because of him. The longer Sarah thought about it the more her first encounter with Jareth and the Labyrinth came back to her like it was yesterday. What a Jerk she had been getting all pissed off with Toby when all of her over dramatic teenage angst hadn't been any of the infant's fault. Toby hadn't done anything to deserve being stolen away to the Labyrinth.

As for her trysts with the Goblin King, if there was nothing else positive to say about her experience with Jareth, Sarah did have to admit that he had been right about her selfish character all those years ago. While one couldn't expect change overnight the unconscious lessons from her time spent in the Labyrinth had been taken back with Sarah when she'd returned home, allowing the teenager to develop into a better person as her and Toby had grown up together. Jareth, in his own annoying way, had certainly had a hand in that process however that didn't exactly excuse the fact that the Goblin King was one of the most arrogant, cynical, antagonistic adversaries she'd ever met.

Besides possibly asking for his assistance Sarah personally wanted to know to know exactly what Jareth's problem had been? Why the attitude? Why the need to act like he was so important? Besides the obvious difference in power, what had made him any different then the next man trying to win a matter of principle?

Sarah was so busy contemplating these fascinating questions that she didn't noticed that the path she was walking on suddenly dipped sharply at a downwards angle. She didn't notice, that is, until her feet hit it causing Sarah to ungraciously slip and go sliding the rest of the way down the incline in a sort of bump and skid fashion that made her entirely grateful she was still wearing her jeans and not something less resilient that would have scratched up her legs.

"Ow!" Sarah cried unhappily when she finally came to a hard stop on her rear at the bottom of the inclining path. Thank God Sarah had the advantages of middle aged padding to break her fall. Ah, the small blessings of life. Cursing rather profusely under her breath Sarah carefully got back on her feet and kicked the sandy stone ground for good measure. "Stupid maze…" She muttered rubbing her backside a moment before she tried to brush the remaining dirt, sand, and dust from her jeans. "I've been here less then fort-five minutes and I'm already finding lovely ways to maim myself. Arg! I hate this Labyrinth. Nobody should have to deal with this crap twice."

Now that her attention had thoroughly returned to where she was and what she was doing Sarah realized she was in a part of the labyrinth she hadn't seen before. The stone walls remained but they were lower and more architecturally designed for style rather than function. Before her the stone path became smaller and almost quaint. The area seemed to opened up into a wide yard with an occasional egg shaped statue or miniature obelisk scattered about in an ornamental fashion and the entire area was covered in lovely green grass. It was all very pretty and well kept. Sarah had to hand it to certain parts of the Labyrinth; it did have the potential to be very nice to look at when you weren't running for your life or trying to fend off nastiness on a schedule.

What was most interesting however was the large tree Sarah could see peaking just over the top of the wall at the end of the yard. This inspired something of a brilliant idea. Maybe if she could find a way to climb up onto one of the tree's branches perhaps she'd be able to not only get her bearings but also figure out some kind of strategy plan to get to the center of the Labyrinth. "Right." She muttered determinedly as she made for the end of the yard. Hopefully the tree in question would be accessible from where she was.

As luck would have it Sarah only had to walk a little ways to the left and then turn to the right before she found the spot where the large tree grew.

At first glance Sarah thought she was looking at a very wide pecan tree. However upon closer inspection Sarah discovered that the trunk was white and smooth like ivory and not gray and furrowed like she would have expected a pecan tree to be. The trunk itself was enormously wide, likely taking at least three or four grown people to encircle it at its base and the spread of its lush canopy extended perhaps fifty or sixty feet. Sarah wasn't sure how high it grew though she hoped it was high enough to see over the Labyrinth walls. The branches weren't very thick which was surprising given its over all size and its green foliage was scattered with great yellow and white blooms that reminded Sarah of the suns young children were taught to draw in school. Perhaps this was some sort of indigenous tree species in the Labyrinth?

Suddenly Sarah heard a rustling sound a few feet above her head. Oh crap, what was that? She thought freezing in place. The sound only lasted a few seconds before all went silent again. "OK. Stay calm. Maybe it was just a bird or something like that." She reasoned out loud to herself.

That's when the rustling started again. This time louder and more violently. Was someone angrily muttering up there? Although the words were too muffled to make out, judging by the tone Sarah was almost sure whatever or whoever was making the noise was entirely upset.

"Hey. Is…is somebody up there?" Sarah asked cautiously as she squinted up into the foliage trying to see.

The moment she spoke the rustling above her stopped as if whoever was in the tree had just realized she was there and was trying to decide whether or not to respond to her.

"Look if you need help or something maybe I can…" Sarah began.

"No! I don't need ANY assistance, thank you." The tree, or rather the person IN the tree responded rather harshly cutting Sarah off at the knees. "Now might you very kindly...GO AWAY!" Snapped what sounded like a very disgruntled man with a British accent that Sarah couldn't see.

"Well EXCUSE ME for coming along and disturbing you! If you're going to take that kind of attitude with me, than you can just forget it! I'm sorry I asked…" Sarah shot back in a hostile manner. She was in no mood at the moment to take attitude from some invisible person in a tree. Rolling her eyes Sarah decided to ignore the rude voice and go through with her plan. Walking around to the other side of the trunk away from the rustling Sarah grabbed a hold of the lowest branch she could find and with some effort began to try and hoist her self upwards.

"I believe I told you to go away. Yet here you are, how amazing." The voice muttered condescendingly. "Listen, if you're trying to climb this tree with the hopes of seeing your way through the Labyrinth you might as well forget it. It won't work." The voice continued from the other side.

"Yeah well I don't remember asking for your opinion…" Sarah retorted still trying to leverage herself up without any success. Normally climbing trees wasn't difficult. Sarah and Toby had done it all the time back home when she came to visit from college. However Sarah was in the Labyrinth which of course meant her situation wasn't normal and neither was the tree she was trying to work with. Every time Sarah managed to get a hold of a thick white branch and pull herself up, the stupid thing simply gave a way and went limp like a rubber hose. Well that was great. To make things worse Sarah didn't even have the option of shimming up the truck because there was simply no way to get any traction. The bark was too smooth and all Sarah succeeded in doing when she tried was to slide back down like a firemen's pole into the grass. "Uh!"

"Do I detect an ounce of frustration? I did mention it was futile didn't I?" The voice made a regrettable nicking sound with his tongue. "What a pity. Seeing as your little idea has failed miserably I suppose that means that you can now be on your way."

"Oh please! This is the Labyrinth. For all I know this could just be another one of its stupid tricks. And anyway if it's SO impossible then how did YOU get up there?" Sarah asked argumentatively.

"For your information I did not get UP into the tree…I fell DOWN into it! There is certainly a difference in our circumstances." The voice snapped back as the trees foliage began to rustle again.

"Oh yeah, big difference…So does that mean you're stuck or what?" Sarah asked putting her hands on her hips while she walked back round to the other side to look directly up into the tangle of branches where she thought the speech was coming from.

"As a matter of fact I am not stuck I am simply being momentarily detained. The situation…will be resolved…shortly." The figure seemed to be struggling again somewhere in the branches and it sounded like who ever was up in the tree was working awfully hard judging by the huffing and grunting going on. Suddenly just when things looked like they might calm down again the strange tree began to acutely shudder as if a wind was passing through its branches before all of the flowers visible from where Sarah was standing snapped shut as if they were blooming backwards only to burst open again to release a shrill screaming sound that rivaled a train whistle.

Immediately the branches right above Sarah's head parted and a tall man was spit out from between the cluster of limbs and leaves. "Ha! You didn't like that, now did you? You bloody sand sucking lawn ornament!" A very bedraggled looking Goblin King said vindictively as he hung upside down by his boots a foot or two off the ground while being swung to and fro. It seemed Jareth was still struggling to make the tree let go of him as its snake like branches were still wrapped tightly around his ankles.

"YOU!" Sarah said once she had enough time to recover from jumping out of the way when Jareth had been spat through the canopy above her. "What are YOU doing here! You're supposed to be in the castle beyond the Goblin city!" Sarah said satisfactorily as she pointed at him.

"Would you please stop yelling at me? This is very delicate business…" Jareth muttered trying to avoid getting smashed into the massive tree's trunk. Apparently the tree in question was not very happy with him for some reason and was taking delight in treating Jareth like a human paddle ball. "You'd think I…I…murdered its babies with the way it's…acting!"

"If my memory serves that isn't exactly an implausible possibility. So what exactly did you do?" Sarah inquired trying to figure out if Jareth deserved what he was getting.

"I was TRYING to keep the monstrosity from eating me, so…I bit it naturally…and now the damn thing is getting even with me!" This time the tree did manage to swing Jareth into its trunk successfully knocking the Goblin King limp. "This isn't working the way I had hoped." Jareth muttered unhappily.

"All right look. If I help you get free from that tree you have to promise to help me back. Promise it!" Sarah insisted now seeing what could be a golden opportunity to gain an advantage.

"Can we please dispense with the formalities before I don't have any consciousness left…" Jareth demanded. He had yet to realize in all his efforts to whom he was speaking.

"Nope. I want your word, Goblin King. No tricks, no games. I help you and then you help me. Swear it, or you can forget getting any help from me! " Given what had happened the last time Sarah made a deal with Jareth she wasn't about to take anything for granted. As far as she was concerned he was still the enemy.

"Very well, I swear by the Labyrinth I will assist you to the best of my abilities…Is that sufficient to secure…" Jareth was cut off as the monster tree seemed to decide it was done playing with its food causing Jareth once again to be sucked back up into its branches like a strand of spaghetti. "Hewlp….now….ease!" Jareth urged from up in the tree as a loud rumbling ensued followed by a smacking sound. Sarah found herself once again getting out of the way as a huge drop of what looked like sticky drool oozed from some of the branches near the trunk, splattering onto the grass.

"Ugh, gross!" Sarah yelled in disgust before launching into action. "OK! Huh…What should I do!"

"ANYTHING…WOULD BE…HELFUL AT…'HISS VENTURE!" Jareth managed to bark at her as he tried to keep the tree from digesting him.

"OK I have to think…um…how did we used to get Merlin to drop Toby's nookie when he was a baby?" Sarah asked herself quickly trying to think back. "Wait! I think I have it. Hold on!" Suddenly struck with another brilliant idea Sarah scurried back round the other side of the trunk carefully stepping over the sap like drool as she went. "OK. Brace yourself. I'm going to try something!" She warned.

Without waiting for a reply Sarah hugged the massive trunk and proceeded to mercilessly tickle it. "Coochie, coochie, coochie, coo! Drop him! Come on you silly thing…Jareth is not food. Spit him out before he gives you a stomach ache!" Sarah demanded in a no nonsense tone.

Amazingly it only took about a minute for the tree to shudder and thrash as it emitted a whistling from its flowers that could have arguably been interpreted as something like laughter, before the thing did indeed concede defeat by forcefully spitting Jareth out. This unfortunately caused the Goblin King to go flying in something of a sticky mess a good twenty feet before coming to a painful looking stop in a nearby garden hedge.

"Shit." Sarah grumbled watching as Jareth momentarily disappeared out of sight. That would be just her luck to kill him before he could do anything for her. Not wanting the tree to mistake Sarah for another snack she quickly took off after him.

By the time Sarah discovered where he'd landed Jareth had managed to pry himself out of the hedge and was now angrily trying to pick out the bits of leaves and twigs stuck to his clothing and skin where the drool like tree sap had dripped. His entire appearance was utterly a mess and as Sarah neared closer she suddenly found it hard to believe he was the same man who had appeared in her room and scared her half to death when Toby had been taken so many years ago. Sarah was about to say something once she was a few feet away but Jareth beat her to it. "Not a word. Not one single sound." He warned without turning around. "I would just like one moment to collect myself if you don't mind, before anything ELSE happens."

This gave Sarah the opportunity to take Jareth in from behind while she waited for him to find his equilibrium again. In most respects the Goblin King seemed to look the same as he had when she'd first met him. He was tall and thin with hair that was perhaps not as Tina Turner as she remembered but never the less just as wild. It was a little darker too. More the color of honey rather than wheat but that could have been due to the fact that most of it was wet and sticking at odd angles with bits of hedge in it.

It seemed that the hungry tree had tried to eat Jareth head first which had thus caused quite a bit of his hair to be drooled upon. As for his clothing Jareth looked to be wearing a white lace shirt appropriate to his somewhat flamboyant tastes under a long dark blue gentleman's coat similar in style to what Sarah vaguely recalled him wearing when he danced with her in the ballroom after she'd eaten Hoggle's peach. However this jacket was far less impressive given it was ripped in several places and lacked the sparkle she was used to seeing. Come to think of it Jareth didn't look very extraordinary at all. He looked… normal? No, that wasn't right. Jareth would never be completely ordinary. It was more that the Goblin King seemed to lack some of his luster Sarah remembered him having. Then again she'd never been almost eaten by a tree before. So it was hard to say how he should have looked just then. The outfit was completed with a pair of tan calf skin trousers and high dark brown riding boots. It was a typical Goblin king ensemble minus the glitter.

Finally Jareth gave up trying to scrub the goo from his soiled jacket and sighed as he prepared to face his rescuer. One might imagine his surprise when he turned to find a very grown up Sarah standing with her hands on her hips and her leg cocked to the side. There was a look of impatience on her face. If Jareth looked somewhat stunned he quickly hooded the expression and shifted into an offensive stance.

"Well, well, well…Fancy meeting you here. I must admit I hadn't ever expected to see you're impish faced, raven haired, little head again." Jareth who was a good head taller then Sarah approached her cautiously apparently having no real interest in coming too close to her just yet. "Do tell me to whom I owe this unexpected visit of yours to so that I might remember to drop them head first into the bog of eternal stench."

While Sarah still found Jareth to be just as condescending and arrogant as ever, it occurred to her that he didn't seem as confident as she would have expected him to be. Generally Jareth would have been completely in her face by now and the fact that he was holding back made Sarah slightly curious. "Really. Is that any way to treat someone who just saved your life?" Sarah inquired evenly as she bravely held her ground and staring Jareth openly in the face. Goblin King or not Sarah was not about to treat Jareth any different then she did anyone else. Her life experiences over the last twenty years had taught her that very few people were actually worth feeling intimidated by.

"My, I am impressed. I suppose I should be grateful for you're assistance. But then you did put a stipulation on it so I see no real reason to be overtly obliged. I suspect you very well would have left me to rot if you didn't need something. I wonder what it is? Life getting you down, Sarah?" He droned condescendingly as Jareth finally neared her enough to allowing him to stare evenly down into her eyes as if to study what was there. "No. I rather think it's something else entirely."

"I want to know where my brother is and I want to go home. I didn't ask to come back here. Give me what I want and I'll be out of your hair. What's left of it anyway…" Sarah retorted quietly as they stared each other down. "In short, I want some answers Goblin King. I was on the way to the castle so that I could get them but you've conveniently saved me the trouble. Now you owe me." stepping forward Sarah poked him pointedly in the chest to further her point which forced Jareth to step a pace back. The response was certainly a role reversal in comparison to the last time they'd met.

Touché, Sarah. The girl's got some nerve I will give her that. Jareth thought darkly to himself as he made a note of this interesting character development. The question among many he had, was why Sarah was here, now, of all times. What did it mean? Nothing in the Labyrinth ever happened by chance and Jareth didn't know enough about the situation as yet to explain Sarah's unexpected appearance.

Despite his disturbed thoughts Jareth showed nothing but contempt externally towards Sarah as he suddenly decided to change his strategy and spun away from her in his typical devil may care fashion so that he could quickly consider his other options. Since intimidation wasn't working like it had in the past with her perhaps some true blue honesty in this moment would resonate better. "I don't know where your brother is and since I'm not responsible for bringing you here I'm sorry to say I can't very well send you back." He said bluntly turning round to face Sarah so that he could properly gauge her reaction

.

Not surprisingly the look of narrowed suspicion on Sarah's face proved she wasn't convinced. "I don't believe you."

"That is you're problem and not mine. I think it sufficing to say I have no reason to lie to you. Nor do I have any motivation to bring you or your brother back to the Labyrinth after all this time." He pointed out.

"YOU STOLED MY BABY BROTHER AND WANTED TO TURN HIM INTO A GOBLIN! I think THAT constitutes as a motivation! For all I know you could be trying to do it again!" Sarah countered angrily.

"No…YOU wished you're baby brother away and the GOBLINS took him!" Jareth corrected her sharply.

"Oh don't act like you didn't have anything to do with it, Goblin Man! You did your damnedest to make sure you got to keep your elegant little gloved mitts on him. Don't deny it. You tried to make me feel so inferior…Sarah don't defy me. Love me, fear me…" She quoted. "What a load of self important CRAP! Whether you personally took Toby away to the Labyrinth or had your little minions do it for you the fact remains that indirectly or otherwise you brought me here to run the Labyrinth with the intention of making sure I wouldn't get anywhere. But surprise, surprise. I beat you at your little game and managed to get Toby back. Even when you were defeated you tried to get the upper hand in the end. How do you expect me to take anything you say at face value with a history like that?" Sarah fumed. She was so busy catching up with her feelings about the past that she didn't notice Jareth's expression shift from defensive malice to surprised curiosity.

"You actually remember me saying that?" Jareth asked. The malevolence that had been in his tone just a few seconds ago was momentarily replaced by sudden and frank inquisitiveness. Apparently Sarah's crass mimicry of Jareth's own desperate words particularly the ones during his last few moments with her had made an impact on him.

"Agh! Can we please stay on topic? Why should I trust anything you say?" Sarah asked starting to grow tired of the conversation.

"Generally speaking, you shouldn't. However in this case I believe you need to take current events into consideration." Jareth spread his arms and legs palms open as if to urge her to look at the bigger picture of their situation. "I am standing before you covered in tree spittle and up until a few moments ago I had no idea you were here. Now as much as I do enjoy these little quarrels of ours you must admit that this conversation is not serving either of us."

Sarah stared at Jareth while she privately considered what he said. It was passing strange to see him in a state of disarray now that she really thought about it. Even in battle he had appeared immaculate save for looking exhausted. So what was different now? "All right. You want to serve a cause? Why don't you magic one of your precious crystals and tell me if Toby is here. If he is then you help me find him. If my brother and I are going to be stuck in an alternative universe or whatever the Labyrinth really is, then I want us to be together…"

"Sarah…" Jareth tried to interject.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm talking." She retorted sharply. "After that you can extend some of you're kingly diplomacy and help us figure out how we're supposed to get back to the cabin. If we can just pop into the Labyrinth like falling through a door then I don't see any reason why we can't pop back…"

"Sarah!" Jareth interjected again this time with some success. "Do you honestly think I'd be standing in front of you covered in tree spittle if I could magic anything at the moment?"

"Hello! You're the Goblin King. What do you mean you can't magic anything at the moment? Why the hell not!" Sarah exclaimed.

"I don't know! This isn't exactly a typical problem for me frankly." Jareth snapped. "The best I can tell you is that the Labyrinth seems to have cut me off. I can't access its magic, which means something very bad is happening."

"Well that's just great! Here I am stuck in the Labyrinth with a dwarf who suddenly feels morally compelled to play by the rules and a magically impotent Goblin King…" Sarah grumbled unhappily.

"Look Sarah, let us call a truce. If we can get to the castle before anything troubling happens... perhaps then I can do something that might assist us both." Jareth reasoned.

"You want to team up with me? Well, well. This is certainly a shift in the structure of our relationship." Sarah said running her hands through her hair. "Fine we go together then. Oh and Jareth, about the tree spit thing…that's REALLY gross. As soon as we find some clean water you're washing."

"Agreed. However we might not have to trouble ourselves too much. Look at that." Jareth came to stand beside Sarah hunching slightly so that they were the same height as he directed her to look up into the sky.

There the great orange sun of the Labyrinth had risen half way into the sky and a second smaller yellow sun was following it, now just above the horizon. What was most interesting about this was that as they both stared up into the golden sky both noted how the light seemed to dim as the clouds turned from their usual shades of warm to the somewhat less dramatic yet entirely more ominous colors of white and teal. As the sky turned cool so did the air temperature and Sarah felt an almost immediate drop of at least ten degrees.

"What's happening? What is it?" Sarah asked in mild alarm shivering slightly as her eyes remained glued to the shifting sky.

"It's the beginning of an eclipse." Jareth replied grimly as he straightened to his full height moving to stand behind Sarah to hide his worried expression. "Something potentially troublesome is happening. We need to hurry."

"Why?" Sarah asked suddenly feeling a little afraid. The longer she watched the colder it got and Sarah could just see the beginnings of a black rind of sliver rimming the sun's edge. Against the teal sky the first great sun almost looked red.

"Eclipses are a mark of transition in the Underground. It signals that something is occurring that could affect everything, meaning the Underground itself, not just the Labyrinth. I'd say we have less than three days. We should make the point of getting to the shelter of the castle before then." Jareth explained.

Suddenly a great rumble of thunder sounded on the horizon followed by an almost deafening crack from the direction of the man eating tree Jareth had been thrown from. Startled by this, both Jareth and Sarah made their way quickly to where the giant tree had been.

"Oh my God…Look at it!" Sarah said in a state of alarm once they found their way back to where Sarah had saved Jareth. There, before them, remained what was left of a once gigantic living carnivorous tree now reduced to two great chard and dead halves. It appeared that lightening or some such convention had struck and split it down to its base which seemed to have instantly reducing it to ruin. Even the flowers had withered into dried crisps. It was such a sad sight to see something that had thrived so completely just a few minutes ago now struck dead that Sarah felt tears prick at the rims of her eyes. It wasn't fair.

"Sarah…" Jareth was behind her again. Or perhaps he'd been there the entire time. It was hard to say. "Come. We must make hast." He continued placing his gloved hands on her shoulders holding them there for a few seconds.

The unexpected, though not necessarily unwelcome, comfort of Jareth contact made Sarah remember what lay ahead. This was indeed not the time or place to be emotional; particularly not in front of the present company. "Yeah." She muttered dispassionately pulling away from him. "We'd better go. I think it's going to rain."


	8. Rachel and The Magic Ring

Where Sarah and Toby had been encouraged from a very young age to foster imaginative minds through the pursuit of childhood games and wonderful make-believe, Rachel Weston had been lucky to be permitted to play tea party with her Portuguese speaking au pair as a child.

Joyce Weston, Rachel's mother had never approved of make-believe and the applications of imagination. She thought them to be the germs of a troubled mind that were meant to be foxed out of the system as early as possible. This might have explained to some degree why Rachel Weston had turned out to be such a terribly materialistic and unabashedly close minded individual. Not to mention an entirely unhappy one at that.

Perhaps if she had been allowed to play with her toys and dress in costumes like most children were inclined by nature to do, Rachel might have grown into a very different sort of woman. One, for example, that might have been more accepting of people like Sarah and Toby. As well as someone who might not have been so terribly surprised to see a woman get pulled through an ordinary vanity mirror while Rachel was being attacked by the local wild life.

As if that wasn't entirely damaging enough to Rachel's perception of sanity, nothing could have prepared the disagreeable banshee of a woman for the trip she was inadvertently being brought on.

Perhaps if Rachel had indeed been exposed to the fanciful books and games of childhood fantasy she might have known better then to let go of Toby in the middle of being whisked away to another place outside her present reality.

In fact it would have been a reasonable assumption by anyone who had the practical experience of make-believe, that had Rachel held tightly to Toby in the void between worlds instead of letting go of him she would have logically turned up in the castle still clinging to him. Alas, Rachel had not had the good sense to hold fast to Toby. In the thirty seconds of floating in the void with him, Rachel had let go of Toby causing her to fall away into the blackness screaming with the bloody fire poker still in her hand.

To put matters into prospective it actually took Rachel a lot longer to come to her senses then it had Sarah and Toby upon being dropped into the Underground. This could have simply been because Sarah and Toby had already been to the Labyrinth once and thus were subconsciously accustomed to the idea that other worlds existed out side of their own. Rachel however would have sooner believed aliens had abducted her then be convinced that people could be magically transported to strange lands. Rubbish like that had been the chief reason Rachel had dubbed Toby a quack and left him for someone a little more practically plugged into reality.

As it happened the fright of letting go of Toby in the black void had caused Rachel to fall into a dead faint which was perhaps the best thing for everyone involved when it came to the temporary madness that had caused the woman to attack everyone in the first place. The nice long nap was just what Rachel needed to get a hold of her senses. In fact things might have remained generally uneventful for the young woman as she cuddled into the warmth of the fuzzy blanket cradling her body, had Rachel Weston not been gently awakened by the loud, though strangely soothing, sounds of the sleeping yeti she was cuddling with. The situation probably would not have escalated beyond Rachel smothering a terrified squeal once she had opened her eyes and slowly tried to inch away from what she probably registered to be a very large sleeping bear. Unfortunately for both parties the moment Rachel tried to move, Ludo the Yeti just so happened to unconsciously decide to change his sleeping position.

From Rachel's horrified perspective it appeared as if the giant creature had awakened and now had it in mind to crush her where she lay. It didn't particularly help that the yeti's very large teeth happened to be agape which gave Rachel the firm opinion she was about to be devoured as well.

"OH! GET AWAY! HELP! THIS IS RACHEL WESTON, SOMEBODY GET THIS…THIS….THING AWAY FROM ME!" Rachel shrieked at the top of her lungs as she scrambled away from the very disgruntled Yeti whom she'd startled awake.

Ludo was likely even more frightened by the shrieking thing that had woken him up, than the hysterical Rachel was of him, as he too began to yell in typical yeti fashion while he tried less effectively to get to his heavy feet.

At a loss for what to do and quite confused by where she was Rachel immediately attached herself to the only thing that made any logical sense. There, about three feet away from the yelling creature was the fire poker Rachel had taken from the cabin. Given that it was the only thing she recognized from where she had been Rachel quickly made a try for the blood tipped weapon managing to snap it up before Ludo the Yeti had finished getting to his feet.

"HELP! HELP!" Rachel cried her eyes squeezed shut as she began swinging the fire poker blindly in front of her.

"Who's making all that racket!" A gravely voice called out from across the distance.

Rachel though she hadn't had the time to look, was standing in a small clearing surrounded by large boulders. If she had taken a moment to pay attention she would have noted that the clearing seemed to be part of a greater arid wasteland littered with boulders and scraps of rubbish.

"Yeti, Yeti, Yeti!" Another voice called from the opposite direction as if he were calling some sort of alarm.

"Oh thank God. Please…my name is Rachel. Could someone please help me!" Rachel called almost in tears at this point.

"Bssssszt! Come this way young woman. Auntie Agnes will take care of things. Yes she will, Dearie." Muttered a kindly sounding old woman from somewhere behind Rachel.

Spinning around and still armed with the fire poker Rachel could just make out what she interpreted to be a cart moseying away. Perhaps Rachel was to be saved after all?

"Wait! Please…I'm coming!" She called not giving a backward glance as she hurry off in the direction of the cart.

If Rachel had looked back she might have bore witness to the cruel display taking place in the clearing of rocks. She never noticed as about a dozen trash heaped figures appeared from several directions to close in on the poor unsuspecting Yeti that, until very recently, had been peacefully at nap. Rachel simply ignored the cackles and shouts going on as the assembly surrounded the poor yelling Yeti, poking with broken broom handles and make-shift pitching forks causing the sad creature to fall upon its side before a great net was thrown on top of him with the intention to drag him away. She never saw any of this, fore if she had Rachel might have thought twice about following the figure ahead of her.

"Excuse me." Rachel inquired as she caught up enough to have a conversation, but not enough to see the face of whom she was speaking. "Thank you for coming to my assistance. Um…Not to sound absurd…but where am I?"

"Patience, patience. Dearie. All questions will be answered at the end of the trip. D'oh…But no worries my pretty. All is perfectly well. We owe you some kind of gratitude for bringing us on to that terrible yeti back there. Been trying to get him for months!" The old woman crooned.

"Oh. Well I'm quite glad I could be of service." Rachel said courteously. Now that she was talking to what she thought was a human being, Rachel's fear subsided and she felt more in control of herself and her situation. While she was still concerned with where she was, Rachel was relieved to think that perhaps if she just waited a little while everything would be logically explained.

The longer they walked the fewer the boulders they passed and the more garbage they saw. To most sensible people this might have been something of a warning sign indicating that wherever they were going was not a particularly pleasant place to be. However Rachel was not a particularly bright individual when it came to things like this. Perhaps if she'd read Little Red Ridding Hood or Hansel and Gretel as a child, Rachel might have been a little more on her guard rather then trusting everything at face value.

It was hard to say how long they walked given that besides the occasional difference in trash everything looked relatively the same.

"Ha. There we are. Home sweet home as I like to say." The cart of junk seemed to stop about a hundred feet away from what looked like an enormous group of tented caravans all brightly lit by oil lamps. "Why don't you go on ahead, Dearie. Agnes wants to freshen up."

Rachel wasn't sure she wanted to go further however the prospect of being stuck out in a strange desert with no shelter, no food, and no answers was motivation enough for the woman to trek on ward.

Rachel hesitated just long enough at the covered entrance to give a backwards glance at Agnes who had already turned away and whom was now trudging away in the other direction. Parting the cloth door with the fire poker Rachel took a deep breath and disappeared inside.

After a moment Agnes the junk woman turned back and approached the entrance as well.

"That's right, Dearie. Go right in and make yourself at home." Agnes cackled. "Her Ladyship will be quite happy fer the company."

At these ominous words Agnes too raised the cloth and disappeared underneath. Somewhere in the distance the same thunder that was at this moment splitting the great carnivorous tree sounded and lightening flashed across the arid sky. As it happened this caused the tops of several of the caravans to come loose or break which successfully managed to unveil the individual caravans for what they really were; large and in some placing steaming piles of junk as high as the eye could see.

If the out side had looked like a great tented caravan then the inside where Rachel had been directed to enter into was something like a very opulent hall. It was glorious. The floor was made of marble and reminded Rachel of a great enormous European castle turned museum. She had seen similar ones in places like Rome and Vienna but those buildings paled in comparison to what Rachel's eyes were seeing now.

The walls were high and made of polished porcelain and there were rows of great Greek style columns that seemed to go on and on in either direction to the left and right of her. Pink and yellow silk damask draped from the vaulted ceilings that were delicately painted to look like blue cloud touched sky. Palm plants decoratively littered the hall and there were also beautiful cherub fountains in between the columns as well as right in front of Rachel. These seemed to also be made of marble. Interestingly enough the water that showered from its base was spattered with flecks of gold.

"Ah. There you are. By all means DO stop gapping and come HERE." Said a no nonsense woman's voice of a particularly older age from somewhere on the other side of the fountain Rachel had been staring into.

Snapping back into her senses and a bit startled that someone other than her own mother had so forcefully addressed her in such away, Rachel popped up from the bent position she'd been in while looking at the fountain to stand bone straight like a child who'd just been caught disobeying her grandmother. Peaking around the fountain to her great surprise Rachel realized the hall extended forward into something of an elongated throne room several yards long.

At the very end of the hall there was a semi circular dais set with two great stone seats in front of a massive tapestry that was inlaid with golden threads. The tapestry depicted a great twisting Labyrinth with two large suns super imposed over it. One sun was large and red while the other smaller sun was gold. While the tapestry was stunning Rachel attention was completely dominated by the opulent and steely looking woman seated to the left of the dais.

"Come closer. I want to take a look at you." The domineering woman upon the throne ordered. "Hm. Yes. Now turn. Good. You have the boning of the English. You of course use the English pronunciation and NOT the French which indicates good clean breeding. But I wonder…" The strange woman mused referring in part to Rachel's name.

The woman who had yet to give her name was rather old and dressed in what Rachel's art studies would have indicated to her as 16 century grab that was reminiscent of Queen Elizabeth I's reign.

The woman in question was dressed head to foot in embroidered black satin that was so dense it was difficult to determine where the dress ended and the woman began. While the fabric of the dress was black with a touch of crimson most of the detailed embroidery work it was covered in was the color of dried oak leaves in the fall. The dress itself was of satin brocade and was painstakingly patterned in what looked like bronze maple leaves within diamond shaped lines. Further up at the bodice deep red roses and closed lilies decorated the fabric near the bottom of the triangular neck line. The sleeves were large and equally embroidered, tapering neatly at the wrist; and there was gathered lace dyed a sort of sand tone that encircled both wrists as well as closely round the neck.

A large circular onyx broach set in gold was pinned and strategically centered between her breasts and was flanked by two sets of five bronze rivets on both sides. The entire dress was also decorated with hundreds of black pearls sewn into the embroidery work. A small silver bell hung from the bottom of the woman's bodice and was easily detachable.

The woman's waist was encircled with a long string of black pears that hung down the front of her farthingale. Hardly noticeable was the emblem of a phoenix sewn into the center of the bodice. Two small gold chains hung within the triangle of flesh visible at her collar bone and a single white pearl draped down between them, encased in gold, from a braided thick cord just below the lace gathered around her neck. A black velvet cornet lined the woman's fading pinned hair and was connected to a long transparent veil that shimmered now and then.

For this splendor of dress the wearer looked cold and humorless with deep hard lines that made her aged face look a great deal older then she probably was. The image was powerful even awing, and yet utterly inflexible.

"Yes. That is…My name is Rachel. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude but I'm rather confused as to where I am at the moment…I…It's all just so strange." Rachel confided touching her fingers to her brow. For some reason it seemed unusually warm in the hall and Rachel's mind was beginning to fuzz around the edges.

"Do sit down child, you look absolutely peaked. I will ring for tea in order to refresh you." Lifting a small silver bell attached to her girdle the woman jingled it and though it made no audible sound a tea trolley suddenly rolled, as if it had been gently nudged, into view. Similarly a small sitting cushion appeared at Rachel's heels for which the light headed young woman instantly sat upon.

"As for where you are…well I believe that is something of a grave matter indeed. You are in the Underground and a particularly dismal part of it I'm afraid. You should consider you self lucky that WE found you first before something else. The Labyrinth, you understand, tends to attract the naive minded and I am quite sorry to say it often disposes of them before any reasonable gain can be made." The woman explained as she poured a cup of tea for the unsuspecting Rachel.

"Wait. Are you telling me that I'm in some sort of…of make believe world?" Rachel was familiar with the Labyrinth only because Toby had forced her to listen to his ludicrous ravings about the existence of 'Other' places and the numerous documented ways one could access them. Rachel recalled Toby mentioning someplace called the Labyrinth during several of these exhausting conversations. The topic began to alarm her when she realized later that it was a quite extensive obsession of his.

"Precisely, though make-believe is a rather elementary description and one your people have only adopted rather recently in your history. We are, as you can see, quite real." The woman said bluntly sliding the saucer and cup towards Rachel who thus took it from her without so much as a glance to what she was receiving.

"So who are you then? You seem awfully important. Some sort of Royalty perhaps? Do you rule this place?" While Rachel didn't know if she exactly believed she was in some sort of magical world, she was keen enough to recognized influence and power when she saw it.

Wherever she was it was clear to Rachel that she was in the presence of someone of great wealth and privilege that far surpassed her own. The woman's attire alone was likely worth a large fortune not to mention it was a brilliant recreation of what Rachel had only ever seen in historical painting of the royal English and French families.

A thin flat smile crept ever so slightly onto the woman's face. "I am the Lady Ariad, acting sovereign of the Arid Flats of which surrounds the ruins of the Goblin City." The newly introduced Lady explained.

"Is there really a Goblin City? Who rules over that if you govern here?" Rachel inquired like a child who had just discovered a brightly illustrated book of stories.

"There is a castle beyond the Goblin City but alas it has not had a proper ruler for some time. Long ago the last ruling Patriarch had the terrible misfortune of choking on a poisoned peach pit that had been rather forcefully lodged in his throat." The Lady Ariad gave a mild shrug.

"Do you mean that he was murdered?" Rachel had often heard stories of such things occurring in history where kingdoms were concerned.

"It is hard to say, but it does leave the mind to wonder. I recall a rumor a regarding a jealous kitchen nave who was elevated to the position of squire. It is suggested that the flaxen youth not but six and twenty, secretly plotted to kill the Lord and have the castle for his own selfish and conceited pleasures. Angered by his audacity the Labyrinth did indeed grant the man sovereign ship. He was granted rule over the goblins that over ran and fouled the castle upon the real King's demise, and was charged with the keeping of the Labyrinth until such time as a worthy Patriarch materialized. It is, I regret to say, a dreary thing to be that of a Goblin King." The Lady Ariad informed her.

Rachel had been sipping at her tea while the Lady Ariad told the story of the castle. The more she sipped the thirstier Rachel became until the thirst turned to hunger. It was beginning to get warm again and the tinkling of the fountain behind her began to take on a hypnotic quality.

"Enough with ideal gossip." The Lady Ariad said dismissively once again ringing her silver bell which caused the tea trolley to roll back from which it had come. "Now I think we must deal with the matter at hand. You are mortal and as far as I can see there is nothing remotely extraordinary about you. Which means you couldn't have come to the Labyrinth on you own accord."

"Oh…oh no I didn't…It was all Toby's fault; Toby and his wretched meddling half sister Sarah. Everything would have gone exactly according to plan if SHE hadn't been at the cabin…" Rachel's sentences were starting to break as if she was intoxicated.

The effect of this sadly caused Rachel to never notice the rustling of the tapestry and the hushed mutterings of alarm from whoever was lurking behind it. Nor was she lucid enough to see the Lady Ariad's eyes become very sharp at the mentioning of Sarah's name.

"Explain." Lady Ariad ordered.

Startled slightly by the woman's tone Rachel quickly launched in a rather watery recounting of the events that had transpired in the cabin. She brought up everything she could recall including how she had attacked Toby in the hall and how a great barn owl had come out of nowhere to attack her as they struggled. Rachel recounted how Sarah had been shockingly pulled through the vanity as well as the strange crystal orb that had rolled from Toby's pocket. In between these facts Rachel blubbered incessantly about how bizarre Toby had been and how all she had every really wanted were her ambitious dreams of the perfect life grounded by wealth and prestige.

Finally the Lady Ariad held up her hand for silence.

"My, that is a troublesome tale. A man can be so ungrateful when it comes to the trials and tribulation a woman is willing to undertake for him. Such is the way it has been since the beginning of time. However sometimes it is exactly the scorn of such a man that succeeds in elevating us to our full potential. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes…I…might I trouble you, your Ladyship, for a small plate of something? It's…it's just…it's been so very long since I've had a taste of anything…I…well…I'm feeling rather…" The compulsion to eat something was starting to cause Rachel to physically quiver. She hadn't realized how famished she was. Rachel had after all driven all the way up to the cabin without so much as a cracker to her name. Not to mention now that the adrenaline from everything had worn off Rachel was beginning to feel as if she might pass out again.

In her current state the tinkling of the fountain was becoming like crashing waves in her ears making it utterly difficult for Rachel to concentrate on anything.

"Do excuse my lack of proper entertainment my girl. It's been a trifle long since the Arid Flats have had a wondering visitor. Far far too long, indeed. More than twenty of your years I should think." The Lady Ariad was of course referring to Sarah's confrontation with Agnes in the junk pile but Rachel had no notion of the significance of her situation.

"You may have this, if you wish." The Lady Ariad indicated to a sliver platter beside her that contained another silver plate with a sprig of wild grapes upon it. It was hard to say whether the tray had been beside the Lady all along or if it had merely just materialized there.

Rachel arose rather unsteadily and without bothering to say thank you stepped a few paces forward to snatch up the grapes and greedily devour them where she stood licking at her wine stained fingers like a starved cat.

Just then what sounded like a mighty crash of pots and pans clattered from the area outside the entrance Rachel had entered through.

"Ow! Get off my back! Why don't you look where your going you old coot!" Agnes screeched from somewhere out side.

"Would you look at all this crap! It's so nauseating to know I could get lost in all this rubbish! Such is my fate in the stimulating role of being your hat!" Something chirped indignantly from outside.

"Would you be quiet! Yes. Now. Where is that entrance. Ah." Mumbled a slow sounding old man.

For the first time the Lady Ariad rose from her seat to address the new arrival who turned out to be a very short old man dressed in robes with what looked like a red long necked bird on his head. "And just WHERE have you two been?" Ariad demanded once the old man had hobbled into the hall.

"Lost! Where else?" The bird squawked atop the man's head.

"So sorry my Dear. Are we late for dinner again?" The old wise looking man inquired hazily.

"Do you believe this crap?" The bird brain snapped.

"Never mind. Sit and be done with it already." Ariad muttered settling back down into her chair.

The Wiseman proceeded to follow suit slowly making his way up onto the dais where he carefully took his seat and immediately began snoring.

"Ah Icarus…my dear pet." The Lady Ariad crooned as she took a moment to scratch the strange talking bird head under its chin. "At least one of you can manage to stay awake."

"Woo, woo, woo!" The bird brain sounded in response. "Who's the sucker?" Icarus asked indicating to Rachel, who, now forgotten, seemed to be wondering aimlessly around the room.

Ariad put a finger to her lips in order to indicate silence before she turned her attention slyly back on Rachel. "Rachel what on earth are you looking for?"

"I…I don't remember…I was trying to get something…Oh I feel sick." Rachel muttered as she plopped down on the pillow she'd been sitting on earlier.

"Fame. Power. Recognition for all your efforts. The ability to have just a little control over things. That's all you really desire. Isn't that so?" Ariad fed Rachel calculatingly. "And Sarah; the girl who took it all away from you…Everything that should have been rightfully yours…you want to make her pay for crossing you. You want to prove that you are not a woman to be denied!"

"Yes…" Rachel muttered, as a dark seed of envy began to grow in her core. Rachel's fingers curled around the fire poker she'd set down beside her upon first sitting.

"I can give you the satisfaction you seek, my girl. Let me rule you and you shall have more power then you could have ever dreamed." The Lady Ariad said persuasively. "Swear you allegiance to my will and I will give you everything."

Rachel was thirsty again, this time with desire. Rachel had never before felt so strongly the selfish and indulgent need to have power. This was only heightened by Rachel's strong inclination for revenge. With her mind weakened by Ariad's trickery it was all Rachel could do but submit.

"I swear my service to you my Lady. From now, until my end." At this Rachel slid from the cushion onto her knees before the dais kneeling upon the marbled floor in subservience.

"Let it be done then according to the proscribed law of the Labyrinth. I bind this bargain with the giving of a gift." The Lady Ariad paused holding out her had to the Wiseman seated beside her.

"Hey. I think that means us! Wake up and give her your contribution you sorry excuse for a hat rack!" Icarus squawked atop the Wiseman's head.

"HmMmMm. What? What's that?" The Wiseman muttered into wakefulness.

"The ring that's rattling inside your contribution box, you stupid man. Give it to me." Araid muttered rolling her eyes.

"Hm? Oh. Yes. Right. Sorry, Dear." No sooner had the Wiseman unlocked his wood contribution box, he was already snoring again.

Irritated by this Ariad pulled open the box and fished out the trinket herself.

"Rise my lovely spy." The lady Ariad instructed. "Do you see this ring? In your world such trinkets are relatively common and not particularly extraordinary. However more times then not when such a wholly common thing is brought into the Underground it has a tendency to take on magical properties that have the capability to be transferred to the wearer. Take it as a token of my faith in you."

Rachel stood and with the poker still in hand approached the dais to retrieve the ring. "What do you suppose it does?"

"I suspect it gives the wearer the power to assume what ever form they might find pleasing. There was another ring like that; One of a small few in the underground that imposed magical abilities on their owners. However most were stolen from this world long before your time." Her Ladyship explained.

Rachel palmed the strange ring before stepping down off the dais. It was then that Rachel completely forgot she didn't believe in talking birds and magic rings or the possibility of being whisked away to magical places. Placing the fire poker under one arm Rachel plucked the ring from her palm with her left hand and slid it gently onto the pointer finger of her right.

Suddenly Rachel and the fire poker were gone and in their place remained a slightly oversized Ermine with chocolate brown coat and snow white stomach. It's elegant tail was long and the color of iron and its eyes were strikingly similar to Rachel's.

"Now." The very satisfied Lady Ariad said. "I have reason to believe that Sarah Williams has returned to the Labyrinth and is currently heading towards the castle. Find her and follow her. But take no further action until I give you leave to do otherwise. Is that clear? Good. Now go."

At that Rachel, now magically disguised as the Ermine gave a single nod of its head and fled from the enchanted junk heap.

"Agnes. I want you and the other Junk people to find the dwarf and bring him to me." Ariad ordered, turning her head in the direction of the edge of the tapestry. "Oh yes. Make sure to feed that deplorable Yeti as well, I think I might develop a taste for roast beast."


	9. Goblin First Aid

Toby's dreams were troubled but nonspecific as he drifted through the inner realm of unconsciousness. While in his private world of light and shadow, thought and feeling; the young man could forget everything. He could forget that he was in the Labyrinth. He could forget about Rachel and the strange occurrence of Grace being unveiled as the Good Mother. He could forget about his choices, regrets, hopes, and dreams. Most importantly Toby could avoid the nagging tug at the edges of his inner world and of the voices that whispered to him; voices that quietly urged Toby to face his own illusions. They were illusions that if not faced and overcome, would herald the end of not just his identity but quite possibly the fabric of someone else's world. The more Toby tried to ignore them the louder the voices got until hundreds, even thousands, seemed to be pushing and clawing at him at once until the message was lost in a deafening clash of personalities all trying to communicate at the same time.

It was all really too much for Toby to take and the suffocating claustrophobic effect of the unconscious barrage was enough to violently force Toby awake gasping for air and clawing at the sheets of his bed. Sheets? It took the poor disgruntled young man a full five minutes to come to his senses enough to realize he was sitting in a very clean and somewhat short four poster bed. Furthermore, it took Toby another few minutes to also realize quite to his surprise that his hands had been wiped clean of the blood that had been caked on them and that the wound at his ribs had been likewise cleaned and bandaged.

Well that explained the suffocating sensation in his dreams.

It was clear by now that Rachel's assault had cracked a rib or two if not broken them outright. There was also the somewhat unsettling realization that Toby was sitting completely naked in the bed. How had that happened? Who had undressed him and tended to his wounds? Most importantly of all, if he was sitting in bed naked then where the hell were his cloths? Toby was so busy asking himself these important questions that he wasn't paying attention enough to notice the extremely high and narrow wood double doors a few feet in front of the bed quietly open a few inches. He didn't notice, that is, until he heard the door promptly close and click as if someone with their hands full had kicked it shut behind them as they entered. This caused Toby to automatically tense where he sat. Apparently someone or thing had just joined him, he just had no idea who or what it was.

"Look I really can't take any more surprises at the moment. So, uh…I would really appreciate it if I could just get my…" To his right Toby was suddenly distracted by the sound of clinking pottery ware which effectively cut him off from asking for his cloths.

By the time he turned his head to locate the sound and identify what had made it, the only thing of note that Toby could see was a washing basin and a half full clay pitcher sitting on a little wood wash table. There was no one to be seen. As if that wasn't strange enough when Toby looked back he suddenly noticed his cloths newly washed and neatly folded upon the end of the bed. He was sure they hadn't been there a second ago. "What the f-"

"You really should reconsider your choice in undergarments, Mister Toby. A man's twiggly bits need air if he ever intends to do anything productive with them." Said a incessant airy little voice at his left that ironically reminded Toby of Minnie Mouse.

Toby felt raw embarrassment blossom upon his face at the mentioning of his choice in underwear, which happened to be briefs, as he swallowed hard and gave a silent prayer to the ceiling.

"And who are you now?" Toby asked dispassionately as he slowly peered over the edge of the bed and not surprisingly found a little creature no more then a foot high staring up at him.

"Good morning, Mister Toby. My name is Tilly-whim. The Good Mother instructed me to bring you your breakfast and told me to tell you that she has located your sister for you." The little creature held up a small silver serving plate of honey bread and what looked like butter which Toby took from her.

It was a _her, _wasn't it?

"I'm sorry to say I wasn't able to get the blood out of you're shirt…" Tilly-whim said regrettably shaking her head. "So I took the liberty of borrowing one of the Master's instead."

"Oh." At this point Toby had long surpassed feeling shocked by his surroundings and anything in it. If nothing else he had accepted that he was in the Labyrinth and that he was just going to have to get used to having strange things happen to him. "Is it morning?"

"Oh, yes. I'm afraid you've been asleep for some time, but I suppose that is to be expected considering the state you were in before…" Tilly-whim chattered quickly all in one breath.

"Wait. I'm sorry…This is all still…You know…New. Give me a minute." Toby interrupted as he rubbed at his eyes with one hand and held the plate of bread in the other. "So I take it you're a goblin?" Toby muttered still covering his eyes.

"A Hobgoblin actually." Tilly-whim piped in. "Which is the same thing more or less."

Toby removed his hand only to find the hobgoblin standing on her tip toes as she curiously stared at him from his lap.

"Jesus Christ!" Toby muttered. Having the small creature appear in his lap at random had caught Toby so off guard that he rolled quickly to the left which caused him to become tangled up in the sheet as Toby fell, rather unceremoniously, out of the bed. This was starting to get ridiculous. "I think I'd like to get dressed now, if you don't mind." Toby muttered into the stone floor.

Once he was alone and allowed to get himself back in order, Toby finally took the liberty of looking around the room. The walls were not surprisingly made of stone and had been sealed and white washed to keep in the warmth and to make the room feel more inviting. The furnishings were sparse and consisted only of an undersized bed, a low padded chair with a matching foot stool, a small wardrobe stood across from the bed and beside the large doors. There was also a little wash table, and a changing screen sat in one corner.

To the left of the bed the room opened up into a small parlor with a little fireplace that was just large enough to warm the immediate area and perhaps heat a kettle upon. An oil lap hung creatively on a curved rode iron pole beside a chair. Tilly-whim had been quick enough to catch the plate of bread and butter before it had fallen to the ground along with Toby and had placed it upon the small table near the chair.

The bed was made simply of a feather mattress and white linen which contrasted nicely against the rich wood. It was indeed a but small for him and if Toby hadn't been inclined to sleep curled his shins would have undoubtedly hung off the end. There was also a boxy padded sitting bench at the end of the bed. Both the bed's frame and the wardrobe were deeply carved with climbing vines and an occasional fairy poking out among the leaves of the pattern. Next to the wardrobe was a tall free standing rectangular mirror rimed in an almost black wood that echoed the violet tones in the bed frame.

The only other furniture in the room was a simple writing table made of cherry wood that Toby easily dated to be made sometime during the mid to late 1850's. What? How had such a humanly modern piece of furniture gotten into the Labyrinth? Most of the other furniture seemed well used and likely made in the Underground. The writing table had a rather obvious craftsman's mark that indicated its origins were British. Judging by the style it was a mass production piece and probably relatively inexpensive for the time period. Once again Toby contemplated how the desk had found its way into the castle but for all Toby could have guessed, Grace or someone like her could have easily brought the piece back with them at some point or another while crossing worlds.

Toby contemplated all this as he carefully changed back into what was left of his cloths. Since he had been without shoes while in the cabin and his shirt was apparently unable to be salvaged all Toby had left to wear was a pair of woolen socks and his favorite gray jeans that had thankfully managed to avoid getting bled on by him. When he got to the white shirt Tilly-whim had borrowed for him, Toby suddenly hesitated. Tilly-whim must have meant that the shirt belonged to Jareth. It looked to be the sort of thing the Goblin King would have likely worn. Toby had never really liked borrowing other people's things. There was just something about it that bothered him and the fact that it belonged to Jareth, of all people, made Toby doubly wary.

For all his logic Toby Williams could be selectively superstitious when it came to certain things. Plus there was also the matter of him being in the Underground and when one was in a world populated by fairy creatures Toby felt it wise to err on the side of caution and be very careful of what he touched. What if the shirt was enchanted? Like something out of one of those movies where the person tried on a hat or jacket only for it to graft to their skin or transport them to another dimension? Yeah, it wasn't like Toby didn't have any practical experience with that sort of thing.

After weighing the pros and cons of the situation Toby determined that he didn't have a lot of choice in the present matter. It was either take his chances with Jareth's clothing or walk around shirtless in a drafty castle inhabited by a bunch of creatures that apparently delighted at jumping out at him. Besides, Toby was feeling slightly vulnerable with his ribs all smashed around like they were. If he did happen to run into something distasteful he decided it was probably a good idea not to give his infirmity away.

Wait. A thought came to Toby suddenly. Where were the gloves Sarah had given him? That would certainly aid in putting a safe barrier between Toby and anything enchanted. Perhaps it did little in separating him from Jareth's shirt, but surely they would be useful in other applications. It was some protection at least. Toby immediately began to riffle through his jean pockets only to come up empty handed.

"Damn." He knew he'd had them before he'd passed out.

Toby began searching the long chamber. It was really more long then it was wide. Rectangles seemed to be a theme in the room. Besides the wardrobe and the parlor area there were really no other nooks to store loose items in.

That was another thing Toby noticed. The room wasn't really decorated. There were no personal touches at all. And what was the deal with everything being so low and small? It reminded him of shopping at Ikea when he'd visited the Minneapolis art Museum last June.

Seriously speaking the writing desk was the only thing regular sized. Even the changing screen would have only come up to mid chest on him. In fact that was why Toby had fallen out of the bed earlier. The cozy bed was simply too small to lay in comfortably for someone of his height. Whoever the room had been made for or used by before Toby, it was a safe bet that they were at least half as short as he was.

Finally Toby located his gloves in the drawer of the writing table and wasted no time in putting them on. He was just in the middle of trying to get Jareth's shirt on when a quiet knock came at the door and Tilly-whim popped her little head into the room. There was a pair of short boots in her hands that were so shiny from being polished that Toby could have seen his reflection in them.

"Hello again, Mister Toby. Did you need some help with that?" Tilly-whim asked politely.

Before Toby had a chance to confirm or deny that he needed assistance the little hobgoblin had already put down the boots and run up Toby's leg. In a matter of seconds the linen shirt was properly situated and even neatly tucked in.

"Very nice, if I do say so myself…" Tilly-whim observed from the bed where she had somehow ended up. "But you haven't eaten anything! Really, Mister Toby. You must keep up your strength. You're a very important guest…"

"OK wait a minute. I think you and I need to get some things straight." Toby interrupted. "First off the term Guest suggests I can leave and last time I checked that wasn't applicable. Secondly, why are YOU waiting on me? I thought Grace…erm…The Good Mother said she was going to keep the goblins away from me?"

"Well you are a guest for one. Granted you're not in the throne room anymore which is good considering how very dirty it is in there. And as for me Sir, waiting on you is my job." Tilly-whim informed him seriously.

"Since when?"

"Since always, Mister Toby." Tilly-whim shrugged. "If you would have stayed in the castle while still an infant I would have been your nursemaid under his Majesty and the Good Mother's supervision of course. His Majesty wanted it as such and since I have been in his personal service for a particularly long time he entrusted me with your care."

"That's another thing. Just what _is_ Jareth in relation to the Goblin Kingdom? I'm getting confused. I was under the impression he ruled here but Grace…er…the Good Mother seemed to indicate that that isn't the case. So which is true?" Toby questioned.

"Both."

"Both?"

"Or neither. It rather depends on how one looks at it I suppose. Oh! What time is it? Never mind. What a silly question…" Tilly-whim plopped down upon her bottom as if to think. "My. Oh, my. Mister Eideard is not going to be happy this morning. I've gone and forgotten his breakfast again. Silly, Tilly-whim." The poor little creature briefly lamented.

Suddenly Tilly-whim rocked back onto her feet as if nothing was the matter at all. "Would you mind Mister Toby, if I bring him yours?"

"Oh. No. Go ahead." Toby insisted still trying to figure out what the hobgoblin meant by both and neither in regards to Jareth's position.

"Oh good! The library is so very far away from the kitchen. Mr. Eideard says he prefers eggs but I happen to know he's extremely allergic. The honey bread will do him good I think."

The library? Toby suddenly saw a golden opportunity put before him. Being the historian that he was Toby was determined to find out as much about his situation as possible. If the castle had a library Toby could reasonably assume it had records of some sort. Perhaps histories even! Furthermore Toby had never seen the library of another reality before. Perhaps there were other things to be gained in the pursuit of knowledge. Like a way to magick himself home!

"Wait. I'll go with you." Toby concluded.

Apparently when Grace the Good Mother had said Toby couldn't leave she had meant that he couldn't leave the confines of the castle. This of course did not mean he couldn't wander at will anywhere he liked inside as long as it was with the intention of staying indoors. This was a matter of detail that everyone he'd met so far had so conveniently left out during their explanations of his situation.

Toby would have to remember to work on his communication skills in the future but for the moment he had bigger things to worry about. Like trying to following a creature the size of a small cat through a plethora of arch ways and halls that all looked exactly the same.

By the fifth or sixth turn Toby was sure that if he were left to navigate the castle on his own he'd surely be found huddled in some dusty corner dead from thirst or sheer madness because he couldn't find his way back to where he'd come from. This had him wondering just how Jareth managed to do it. Perhaps all the Goblin King had to do to get from one room to the next was blink him self there. How fortunate for him, Toby thought resentfully huffing as he tried to keep closely near the fast little hobgoblin lest he lose her.

Finally man and hobgoblin opened upon a stone spiral stair. It was the first of its kind Toby had yet seen as they traveled through the castle.

"Is it close? The Library I mean." Toby muttered. The exertion of walking so long was causing the pressure upon his ribs to expand forcing the poor young man to breath hard and deep. A painful endeavor it was. Toby only hoped the Library held the answers to questions yet unasked.

Tilly-whim seemed to ignore his question as she produced a torch, likely off one of the nearby walls, and struck it into a small blaze lighting her way as she scurried down the stairs. Once again Toby had to hurry in order to avoid losing sight of her and his footing which might have resulted in him tumbling down the spiral stone steps. Given the two days he'd had already the young man was quite fed up with finding himself sprawled on the floor.

Toby found himself in another hallway before long. This time however the walls were of a more human height and made of a packed mud. The torch flickered here and Toby could physically feel the air going thin. The atmosphere gave one the impression that they were no longer above ground. It made him feel extremely claustrophobic. Especially considering the only source of light available was from Tilly-whim torch. There was no other means of lighting the tunnel that Toby could see. It was slightly unnerving.

They walked on. Finally Toby caught sight of a single door in the murky distance. It was of no particular note. Just a plan wood door with nothing upon it that made one think it was anything other than an entrance into another part of the castle. Nothing particular that is until Toby got close enough to notice a large artistic "L" carved into the front painted gold. It was hard to say if the symbol was referencing the Library or the Labyrinth itself.

"Here we are then." Tilly said cheerfully as she balanced the little platter on one small clawed hand and snuffed the torch.

A drip of panic oozed down Toby's back as he now found him self in utter darkness. It reminded him eerily of the dark place between worlds that he'd found himself momentarily in when everything had gone black in the cabin. Suddenly he heard Tilly-whim rap solidly on the door with her fist before it gave a crack causing light to seep into the passage way.

"Who is it!?" Yelled a very crotchety voice from somewhere on the other side of the door.

"It's Tilly-whim, Mister Eideard. There's a visitor here for you." Tilly-whim seemed unaffected by the grumpy sounding short tempered voice that addressed them.

"Eh? Of course I have a visitor! And he's LATE too. Very bad form young man…Well? Are you coming in or are you just going to stand there while my blasted eggs get cold!?" The voice muttered cantankerously.

Toby and the Hobgoblin exchanged looks. Toby's was questioning while Tilly-whim's was apologetic. Taking a deep breath Toby stepped forward and gave the door a firm though light push, causing it to open the rest of the way inward. What he saw upon walking into the lighted room was nothing less then surprising, if not wholly unexpected.

"WOULD YOU SHUT THAT DOOR! Of all the…" The voice muttered on under his breath somewhere to Toby's immediate left.

Startled into compliance Toby quickly nudged the door shut. It seemed heavier closing then it did opening.

"So you're the one everybody's all gone crazy over! Hm. You're a little stouter of mind then I expected but I can see why the Labyrinth wants you so badly. Well, are you going to oblige it or what? Can't wait forever you know! Blast! Bread again. What do I look like to you little Missy? A parakeet?" The one known as Mister Eideard spouted as he changed his focus to the little hobgoblin that was now stoking the fire for tea.

If Toby had been expecting Mister Eideard to be something normal like a human or even a goblin, he was thoroughly surprised when he turned towards the voice only to find a very large headed Billy goat mounted on the back of the door they'd come through with a pair of square spectacles hanging of his bearded snout.

Toby took it back. He could still surprised.

"Mister Toby I would like to introduce you to our resident Scholar Mr. Eideard." Tilly said proudly. It seemed that despite his grouchy disposition, Tilly-whim had a great deal of love for the enchanted creature.

"Aye." The Billy goat muttered eyeballing Toby with one milky pupil. "I expect you'll be wanting a tour then, eh?"

Toby whose mouth had gone dry could do little but nod yes in reply.

The library was taller then it was wide. The walls, if measured, vaulted more then twenty feet high and the entire room seemed to be carved out of solid glittering rock. The room was oval in shape and seemed much larger then it likely was. A great rectangular table sat at its center with a painted surface made to give an aerial perspective of the Labyrinth and the surrounding landscape. Even now dusty ruminants of miniature banners and tiny models of creatures remained unmoved from there posts upon the table.

Upon the high walls hung tapestries depicting the banners of long forgotten kings and the deeds that symbolized their reign. Scrolls and leather covered books littered every surface, spilling over onto the floor and models of primitive human mastery hung from the vaulted ceilings. An alchemist table was set up in an alcove to the far left surrounded by shelves filled with dusty bottles and other trappings of medieval science. To the right was a great engraved chair set before an equally great oak desk. Engraved upon the chair's head was an artistic rendition of the letter "M".

"Piece of work, eh? Betcha you can't guess who that M stands for. Hum?" Mr. Eideard commented between smacking his gums as he ate up his breakfast.

Toby glanced from the chair to the ceiling where there hung, what he hoped was, a replica of Leonardo da Vinci's version of a model helicopter. "No. You…You can't possibly be telling me that this is the secret hide away of some bygone Arthurian sorcerer. Goblins? OK. Weird parallel reality? Fine. But you are not going to hang there and convince me that this hole in the ground is supposed to be some mythical leftover belonging to Merlin the Wizard.

"Well of course not. Merlin had more than one workshop you know! He wasn't just a wizard either. He was a man too. Like you if only in the context of your figure. He was a fool too, as I recall. As well as a teacher of wisdom and a student of nature. But that's really not the point! Look up on the wall there. How many banners do you see?" Mr. Eideard barked.

"Three. What's your point?" Toby asked crossing his arms.

"This is your history boy! You've got a lot to catch up on if you want to be prepared." The goat head responded.

"Prepared for what?" Inquired Toby not following where this was going.

"Why war of course! What were you expecting? We're at the edge of delicate times, my boy. Any little snuff of the wind could send the banners flying. The bottom line is whether you become the Labyrinth's keeper or not somebody's got to assume power if it isn't you…" Mr. Eideard trailed off darkly.

"Then the bad times might start again Mr. Toby." Tilly piped in.

Apparently frightened by the current line of conversation the hobgoblin had huddled close to Toby's ankle and was now half clinging to his boot.

Feeling suddenly guilty for scaring the little hobgoblin Toby knelt gingerly down to place the little creature upon his knee. "I suppose this is where I settle in for a story, eh?"


	10. Mr Eideard's History Lesson

"Hey! What're you doing! Put me down! You're going to drop me! PUT ME DOWN!" Yelled Mr. Eideard. For being nothing but a goat's head mounted on a mahogany display board the creature might as well of weighed the same as a fully sized Ram.

"Look would you shut up and stop squirming! If I leave you against the door Tilly-whim and I WON'T be able to see you properly!" Toby argued as he struggled to carry the heavy mounted head more fully into the library.

"Why do I need to tell the story anyway!?! SHE knows more about it all then I do!" By she Mr. Eideard was referring to Grace the Good Mother.

"Because," Till-whim answered him settling her tiny little clawed hands on her waist. "The Good Mother isn't here and YOU are. Don't you see that this is good for you Mr. Eideard? You must be tired of always getting smashed into the wall every time someone comes in. And you are always insisting that the draft from the door gives you a head cold."

"THAT ISN'T THE POINT!" Mr. Eideard retorted.

Grunting from the use of what little stamina Toby had at his disposal and praying that the heavy lifting didn't manage to further damage his delicate ribs Toby finally managed to hoist the goat's head securely above the fireplace mantle where the Billy Goat had full few of both the library and the its guests.

"The point here Sir is that _you_ are now properly relocated." Toby muttered. "Now can we please get back to the topic of the Labyrinth?"

"That depends on what you want to know…" Mr. Eideard grumbled as he readjusted himself as best he could upon the mantle ledge.

Toby was getting tired of having to fish for information. Why couldn't people just tell him everything he needed to know upfront and be done with it? Course then again the idea behind being in a Labyrinth in the first place was to solve puzzles in order to get to the final destination. So for now Toby was just going to have to settle for playing the detective. Given his love for such things one would have thought this adventure in the Labyrinth would be exciting to Toby. But then again no one liked to play a game when it was their life and possibly the lives of others on the line.

"How do I get out of the castle?" Toby began.

"You don't far as I know. Ask Grace. If there's a way she'd know better then I would." Replied Mr. Eideard as goat head and man glared each other down.

Toby found it passing odd that the goat seemed to be the only one he'd met so far who called Grace…er the Good Mother…by what Toby decided was her human name. He'd have to ask Mr. Eideard about that later. "How do I contact the Good Mother?"

"The Good Mother is a very busy woman. You don't call on her, she calls on you. Next question!" Mr. Eideard said abruptly as if they were playing a game of twenty questions.

Toby thought a moment. Maybe it would be wise at this venture to change his perspective and attack his situation from a different angle. That's when he looked to the library for inspiration.

"Seeing as I'm apparently intended to be some kind of future custodian for the Labyrinth and Jareth seems, in one way or another, to have held the position before me; how many other formal rulers have their been?"

Mr. Eideard blinked a moment winking first his left eye then the right. "Aaaaaah. Now THERE is an intelligent question. Very good, my boy. Very good indeed. There might be some hope for you yet."

It was the first compliment Toby had received since landing in the Labyrinth and it served to significantly relax the mood in the room.

"There have been three to be exact formally speaking of course. You see young man just like anything in the universe the Labyrinth has undergone great change during its existence. In fact once upon a time the Labyrinth wasn't a Labyrinth at all. There was just the castle. Look! Look at the map there as I explain some natural history." Mr. Eideard instructed him.

Toby and Tilly-whim quickly regrouped around the painted table. To Toby's surprise at the center of the table where a miniature of the castle had been painted there was an easy to spot banner painted over the castle that read in ornate though neatly done hand writing the words:

'**_You Are Here_**.'

"All right. See the Arid Flats directly to the East there? That used to be all sea water. Got that?" The near sighted goat asked.

"Yeah.." Toby confirmed.

"A long, long, long time ago that whole region used to be under water. Course now it's just one big arid waste land covered in garbage. Its farthest reaching boarder bumps right up flush against the front of the Goblin City. Horrible mess not to mention the smell…but that's a different topic entirely. At some point a great cosmic conjunction resulted in everything drying up. It a pity too from what I understand these parts used to be alive and pretty good looking. But then that's what happens when the water goes dry. Everything gets all crinkly." It appeared Mr. Eideard did not like crinkly things.

"You see Mister Toby before the great conjunction happened this was a very green and prosperous land. But then the drought came and the neighboring country side began to dry up. Given that the castle was so close to the sea the City and its surrounding lands was able to retain much of their precious water resources. Well naturally this caused something of a commotion." Tilly-whim explained.

"Yep. People get right desperate when they can't eat and sleep for lack of proper maintenance. Suddenly there were whispers of civil war. People stated killing each other over grazing land or out of general stupidity. It was only a matter of time before the castle fell under attack. Eventually the old residents were kicked to the curb and the kingdoms resources were plundered to the point of breaking." Mr. Eideard continued.

"That's when the goblins came!" Tilly-whim piped in happily.

"Well you see goblins by nature are earth sleepers. Despite there annoyingly rambunctious natures while awake they spend most of their time sleeping. Usually in damp places very deep underground. That's what makes em different from dwarves who prefer living closer to the surface where they can actively mine the mountains and talk to vegetation and field mice. You might imagine dwarves and goblins don't get along very well since the dwarves tend to disturb their sleep by digging up the earth and the goblins once awake tend to never give the dwarves a moments peace. But that's not relevant to the current story." Mr. Eideard informed Toby.

"So anyway as the fresh water supply decreased people did the only thing they could think of to get more. They started digging deeper and deeper into the ground. Well naturally these wells started to interfere with the sleep of various hordes of sleeping goblins one thing lead to another…" Tilly-whim Shrugged.

"And suddenly people started being over run by the little miscreants." Mr. Eideard finished with a scowl.

"OK so what does that have to do with how the Labyrinth came to be?" asked Toby. While he was finding this information all very interesting he had yet to understand what if anything any of this had to do with the formation of the labyrinth and relatively his current situation.

"Well eventually this really started to get on peoples nerves. I mean it was bad enough everyone was slowly dieing off from fighting or starvation and disease. But then to have the goblins constantly playing tricks and messing up the kitchens and larders not to mention frightening the live stock and terrorizing the people with their goblin games…Well? Something had to be done if only to bring some order to things." Tilly-whim continued. "So they decided to consult an expert on magical creatures and their properties."

"Wait." Toby interjected; despite himself he was starting to get into the story by this point. "Let me guess. The expert was Merlin right? I mean he was like…THE man of magic and mystery."

"Who's really to say boy." Mr. Eideard muttered darkly. "That old buzzard had a lot of identities. Between him and Morgana le Fay and all her mischief makers you really never knew who you were dealing with where magic was concerned. It marked the end of the golden age that's for sure. The sudden up rise of the goblins was really one of the last big magical events that happened before this world and your world separated. But moving on…"

"So anyway Mr. Toby the people pleaded their case to a passing sorcerer. "Mr Eideard insists it was Master Merlin but judging how things have turned out I really do think it was the Mistress Morgana…" insisted Tilly-whim.

"Either way…Queen Mab had something too do with it. She ALWAYS had something to do with EVERYTHING in those days!" Mr. Eideard Argued crassly.

"So a bargain was stuck. By this time the Castle was nothing but a ruin and the city so polluted by fighting and famine that for the most part no one wanted anything to do with it. So it was proposed that in exchange for some peace from the goblins meddling, the castle and the surrounding city would be handed over to the goblins for keeps." Tilly-whim finished.

"That's great. So when did the castle go from being run by goblins to eventually be run by…what? Kings? Rulers?" Toby asked still trying to puzzle it all out as they went.

"What do you expect happened? Goblins are annoying enough when they're bothering humans who by design are not the most put together creatures themselves. When the worlds split and humanity was left to deal with their own mayhem while we enchanted folk set up our own universe to operate in. Let me tell you the Majority of the societies in this world think goblins are just as annoying as the ones in your world did. So the ruling powers at the time decided that the Goblin kingdom would become a neutral sovereignty controlled by who ever was stupid…cough…er ambitious enough to stake the claim. Ha ha ha. That when things REALLY started getting good." Apparently Mr. Eideard found this part of the history lesson amusing.

"So then what happed?" Toby Inquired.

"Well to put it simply mister Toby eventually someone came knocking." Tilly-whim shrugged as she sat upon the edge of the table.

"You're kidding me. You mean some traveler literally just like…walked up to the castle gate and said…'Hey I think I'll take over running an enchanted castle full of goblins today!' there wasn't any challenges…or, or a battle or anything?" Toby was dumbfounded by this.

"Not every fairytale starts out exciting Mr. Toby. Some times someone just comes along randomly looking for a rest and wakes up with a sovereign in his lap." Tilly-whim muttered with a shrug. "If you recall goblins sleep quite a bit and by the time someone came around to the castle the prior disturbance of their slumber had pretty much been forgotten. That's when the new age began. As it sometimes happens a man and his wife by luck or circumstance had landed themselves in our world and seeing as they were in need for shelter the castle they saw in the distance looked inviting enough so they made camp and eventually decided not to leave."

"See that banner there. It's the red one with the silver engrailed trim. The silver and gold ringlet entwined and the center of the banner was the symbol of their reign. That was a beautiful era. It was a time of peace and high mindedness. The goblins were still relatively docile then. Sir Paul and Lady Eleanor which were their names as I recall saw the castle as a new beginning I think and as for the goblins both humans were of a mind to respect their slumber." Mr. Eideard mused.

"See the good Sir had been a disillusioned military man in your world. The realities and terrors of war will make a man appreciate beauty and peace of mind when he sees it. I think when they came across the castle they saw it for what it had once been. By this time the ground had started to get some life back into it. The new world was a rather fertile place and still is given the proper motivation. Lady Eleanor was so taken by the beauty of the Wilds that grew at the edge of the western boarder that once they had settled in the castle and started making friends with it's boarders it was arranged that a hedge labyrinth be built for Eleanor pleasure. You'll notice on the map that much of the western hemisphere making up that part of the labyrinth is made up of sub gardens, orchards and well…hedges." Tilly-whim pointed out.

"As far as rulers go Sir Paul and Lady Eleanor were absolutely enchanting for being humans." Mr. Eideard Sighed. It was the first time the Goat's head had muttered anything remotely soft spoken.

"What happened to them? You said there'd been three rulers." Toby inquired.

"Well being that they were new to t he area and all Sir Paul often went away on journeys to explore the various lands and their occupants. One day he just never came back." If the goat head could have shrugged upon the mantle he would have at this statement of fact.

"Poor lady Eleanor…" Tilly-Whim said sadly. The loss of her husband absolutely undid her I think. The legends say that she locked herself away in the castle waiting for him to one day return to her. Eventually rumors got around that she'd taken up sorcery and given that you can't draw magic from nothing here it seemed she tapped into the deep earth magic of the goblins to aid her as she searched for him."

"When you get right down to it goblin magic is pretty powerful stuff. Over time as the Lady drew on the sleeping Goblins' power the run off began to saturate the surrounding land binding the castle and everything around it directly to the goblins themselves. Given that the Castle was made neutral to begin with the Goblin's magic also made it a power house of enchantment. Over time the Labyrinth, charged by the goblin magic, developed its own sort of consciousness." Mr. Eideard gruffly continued.

"That's when Sir Ethan appeared. He was the first to run the Labyrinth you know!" Tilly-whim chirped.

"Wait a second; you wouldn't happen to mean Sir Ethan Farringdon the writer would you?" Toby muttered in disbelief.

"So you're acquainted with him then Mister Toby? He must be very famous where you come from." Tilly-whim exclaimed.

"Humph! Fat chance, the man was a terrible writer. All fluff and no substance I know because I used to have to proof read his work. Blech!" Mr. Eideard snorted. "See every now and then you get some starry pie eyed fellow who makes the mistake of walking across a fairy ring during the spring equinox and…boom! They land their rears in the Underground. We used to get a heck of a lot of artists and young virginal women that way which explains why so many fairy tales involve young stupid men and women falling victim to faerie enchantments. Biting Faeries are common round the Labyrinth. Course since we started spraying there's been a lot less crossover in recent centuries."

"Anyway while walking aimlessly through the maze of hedges Sir Ethan happened to spy Lady Eleanor while on one of her solitary walks…" Explained Tilly-whim.

"Well naturally the idiot caught once glace of Lady Eleanor and fell madly in love." Mr. Eideard grumbled. "Vowing to find his way through the Labyrinth if only to gain the Lady's attention; he eventually succeeded in finding his way to the castle. Course the first thing the man did when he got there was call upon Lady Eleanor to profess his undying love for her…writers." Mr. Eideard huffed in mild contempt.

"So flattered by this sentiment, fore you see mister Toby while the good Lady still mourned for her lost husband she had also become very lonely, Eleanor offered Sir Ethan the opportunity to stay in the castle with her for a time as a rewards for winning the maze." Tilly-whim picked up the story while Mr. Eideard muttered to himself. "Armed with a new companion Eleanor began to allow Sir Ethan to add upon the hedge Labyrinth."

Apparently he'd thought found his way to the castle too easily and wanted to make things a little more challenging should others come along who weren't as friendly has he was. Personally I think he was just trying to keep Lady Eleanor to himself. So using the Lady's magical influence Sir Ethan roused the goblins from their slumber and set them to work building the remaining labyrinth. His personal touch was to add several perplexing mental challenges scattered throughout the Labyrinth. I think the man was just a little mad in his genius. By the time he was done sir Ethan had spent enough time in the Labyrinth to gain some power of his own." Mr. Eideard explained.

"This made him more determined then ever to win Lady Eleanor's affections. Though they were good friends I think the lady grew depressed by constantly having to deflect Sir Ethan's interest in here. As time went one she spent more and more time away from him sitting in her room." Tilly-whim chimed. "Troubled by this Sir Ethan, who seemed to have developed a talent for creating fantastic living botanicals, built her a small garden and planted in it a large carnivorous tree that had yellow and white blooms that when touched would alternate brassy sounds meant to sound like trumpets playing. It was his love gift to her."

"Yeah you might imagine THAT went over well…NOT! That fool had a terrible ear of music. Eventually out of sheer force of will Lady Eleanor's powers seemed to dwindle and the youth that the Underground tends to retain in its human residents began to fade. Finally Lady Eleanor approached Sir Ethan relating to him that the Labyrinth was relinquishing its favor of her and that seeing that the Labyrinth seemed to be taking so well to Sir Ethan that perhaps that was an indication he was to carry on in her place. Naturally he begged her to stay on with him as his queen but knowing the nature of the Labyrinth as she did Lady Eleanor refused him. Despite this fact Sir Ethan was compelled by the power of the Labyrinth and his love for Lady Eleanor to remain. As his final token of his love Sir Ethan gave the Lady Eleanor his journal to take with her to wherever she was going." Mr. Eideard explained.

"I've seen them. The journal entries. I mean I have the originals back home in my study. But how the devil did they find their way back to my world?" Toby was slightly confused by this connection between their realities.

"Well." Tilly-whim said with a shrug. "Traditionally any time a new human ruler takes over the Labyrinth the old ruler has the opportunity to go back between realities. Lady Eleanor probably took the journal entries back with her when she crossed back over."

"That banner up there is Sir Ethan's. Because of his love for Eleanor his color of choice was green. The black regally lined trim around its boarders represented Sir Ethan's grief for the loss of his lady and was an indication of the difficulties he encounter while trying to woe her. At its center there is an opened scroll, Sir Ethan was a learned man if nothing else, and set at the center of that is the visage of a swan which represented his devoted to Eleanor and to his position he undertook in her place. A blue tear drop hangs from the bird's beak. Talk about being blatant. Yeck! We 'GET IT' already." Mr. Eideard spit as if he had a sour taste in his mouth.

"That's were the Labyrinth Knights came in isn't Mr. Eideard?" Tilly-whim prompted merrily.

"Yeah they were about the only sensible thing the man ever thought to install. See after Sir Ethan took over things he developed kind of a poetic streak for Arthurian legend I think he liked to fancy his feelings for Eleanor as equal in feeling to that of Sir Lancelot and Lady Guenivere in the old legends. Realizing he didn't have a clue about running a kingdom he decided to set up the Labyrinth Knights as a way to keep order in the Kingdom. Oh the power of delegation..." Mr. Eideard muttered rolling his eyes and shaking his beard.

"This worked out wonderfully and soon creatures from all over the Underground came to the Labyrinth to sign up for the honor of the position." Tilly-whim went on to say.

"Course this also tended to attract not so nice people too. That's when Ivor the Hammer Fist came around. He was a real winner." Mr. Eideard said sarcastically.

"Ivor was an iron smelter in your world who had a strong Norse heritage. It's said he entered into the underground through a mountain cavern where he had laid down his father's ashes after the man had been stuck down in a conflict between his village and an eastern invader. When Ivor crossed into the underground he brought with him a large iron battle hammer which once in the Underground took on magical properties as objects from your world often will do here. This increased his physical strength by seven fold which made him really scary since he was already a giant of a man to begin with. Eventually drawn by the pull of the Labyrinth's magic Ivor forced his way through the maze and challenged the Labyrinth Knights. Many of the Labyrinth knights rose up against Ivor and many more fell at the end of his enchanted hammer. He was a tyrant and a vicious bully!" Tilly-whim cried angrily, her little clawed hands forming into fist at the thought of the warlord.

"What about the goblins? Didn't they defend the Labyrinth once Ivor broke through the defenses of both the maze and the Labyrinth knights?" Toby asked. The image Mr. Eideard and Tilly-whim were describing was starting to make Toby's stomach turn.

"Of course they defended the castle the goblins were its last line of defense!" proclaimed Mr. Eideard. "But you have to keep in mind that while powerful magical creatures; goblins as a general rule aren't very smart nor particularly battle savvy, at least not without strict and consistent direction. As for Sir Ethan, well…he didn't really stand much of a chance considering he was a lover and not a fighter. When Ivor finally stormed the castle intent upon claiming himself king the only sign of life he found upon entering the throne room was a little orange book worm hastily fleeing into a crack in the stone. Sir Ethan was never heard from again after that and, attracted by Ivor's sheer desire for power and the allure of his magical hammer. the Labyrinth bent to his will and Ivor became the new ruler. That was pretty much the beginning of the end really. In honor of his victory Ivor personally smelted an enormous battle ax and iron body armor that only he could wield. Between that and the enchanted hammer he became a force to be reckoned with."

"That's the final banner there. See it's black and trimmed with maroon battlements. At its center are two armored gauntlets crossing each other. In one hand there is Ivor's hammer representing the honor of his and his father's metal trade and in the other hand there is the axe which represents his mastery of military execution in battle." Tilly-whim shook her head sadly. "It was the beginning of a dark time in our history Mister Toby."

"Jesus. How did Jareth get involved in all of this and how did he appoint himself as Goblin King? You said it wasn't an official position Tilly. I assume something had to have drastically happened to change things." Toby inquired sharply. Though he had only know Tilly-whim for a short time the pain and horror in the hobgoblin's small eyes cut him to the quick. Toby found him self legitimately angry by what he was hearing and how the memory of it seemed to be affecting his little friend.

"The title of Goblin King is an official position. Although not one I think most people would feel too honored to own." Mr. Eideard said slyly.

Toby looked from Tilly-whim to Mr. Eideard. "What. No elaboration on that?"

Silence seemed to have fallen over the room as well as stillness. Toby was still staring at Mr. Eideard when he felt a significant breeze flutter through the room from no apparent source. A quick chill ran up Toby's back causing him to shudder visibly. When he bent his head to shake off the sensation Toby caught a glimpse of a half crumpled up piece of parchment sitting directly in front of him on the painted table. It certainly hadn't been there a second before.

"I suppose this sort of thing happens a lot here…" Toby commented after he noticed the paper had appeared. It seemed as if things appearing and disappearing randomly were the norm.

"Let me put it this way, Boy. Does it look like I have hands?" To this question the goat's head started making a strangled coughing sound which was supposed to pass for laughter, or so Toby could only guess.

Toby plucked the crumpled parchment paper off the table and began to smooth it out. He figured Mr. Eideard expected him to read whatever was written on it. To his surprise Toby found that the paper was a short poem. He recognized the hand writing style to be that of Sir Ethan Farringdon's. Toby read the poem aloud thusly:

"_It is I regret to say;_

_A dreary thing._

_To be that of a Goblin King._

_To rule the grime_

_and order the muck._

_To never have a bit of luck._

_To be the butt of every joke,_

_A goblin king has no reproach._

_And cruelty becomes his only friend._

_Lonely is a life that has no end_."

"What exactly am I supposed to infer from this little snippet?" Toby muttered furrowing his eyebrows.

Neither Mr. Eideard nor Tilly-whim said anything.

Suddenly a thought struck Toby. It was an idea that should have come to him long before this moment in the library. "Jareth wasn't ruling over the Labyrinth as Goblin King, he was being held prisoner by it. Goblin King isn't a title of power it's a derogatory title of servitude."

"Aye." Mr. Eideard simply said looking over his spectacles.

"So what you're telling me is that all that fairy tale business in Sarah's book about the Goblin King in the story loving the princess and stealing her baby brother away as proof of his devotion to her or whatever…Your telling me that none of this has anything to do with Sarah beyond the fact that she was a means to an end? You know that just really sucks. How dare the goblin King use my sister for his own selfish ends!" Toby fumed.

"To be fair to his Majesty, Mr. Toby, he did offer your sister a boon for you. And it wasn't really his fault that the Labyrinth needed a new ruler or that it settle itself on you. If things had turned out the way his Majesty had hoped everyone would have conceivably been happy." Tilly-whim pointed out.

"No they wouldn't have! Even if Sarah had agreed to let the goblins have me she still would have had to explain to my parents where the heck I had gone and I'd like to believe she would have regretted it afterward. I don't care what Jareth could have given her! I know my sister." Toby fumed.

"Think about it lad. You honestly don't think your sister might have been happier if she could have had everything she ever dreamed?" Mr. Eideard asked.

"Sarah was only fifteen. What the hell did she know about happiness? We're talking about a girl who had fantasies about marrying Paul McCartney when she grew up!" Toby spat crossing his arms.

"What was going on around that time Mr. Toby?" Tilly-whim asked innocently.

"God I don't know. I would have been nearly a year old. My mother and Sarah's dad would have just been coming up on their first wedding anniversary. I think Sarah's birth mom had just taken an acting job is London that was going to hold her up for some time." Toby said vaguely.

"You have a young girl, confused about her father remarrying and her mother being so far away. People don't just wish their siblings away on a lark. There has to be some feeling behind it for it to actually work." Mr. Eideard said carefully.

"Hey everyone gets a little down about the direction of their life. That does not mean their lives would've been any better if they suddenly threw it all away because someday with a magic ball comes along and said so." Toby muttered stubbornly.

"Are you happy with the direction of your life Mr. Toby?" Stilly-whim suddenly asked quietly.

This question put an abrupt halt o the next remark Toby was preparing. Was he happy with his life as it was? Toby felt something between his heart and his stomach twist sharply. It was caused by something other then the wound at his ribs. His thoughts almost immediately fell upon the pain Rachel's departure and suddenly reappearance had inflicted upon him. If it weren't for his obsession with the Labyrinth and the support of his sister Sarah, Toby might have allowed his despair and disillusion to completely devour him.

"We aren't talking about me." He replied darkly.

"Don't you see, Boy? If your sister had accepted Jareth's offer in exchange for you it would have been like you had never been born. She would have gone on with her life changed in whatever way she desired in her heart for it to be different. You would have been brought up in the Underground it would become you're only way of life and you would have gained all the benefits of such a heritage. You would never have known the difference. As for Jareth, well…he would have been liberated from his bondage. Who's to say where he would have gone and to what ends. He was human you know and not so very ancient that he couldn't have begun anew in your world or in this one." Mr. Eideard explained.

"Everyone would have gotten what they wanted. And I wouldn't have known any different." Toby starred darkly into nothing and grew quiet. "It would have been a lie."

Tilly-whim and Mr. Eideard exchanged glances.


	11. Rain Water Blues

To say that it was raining out side would have been a bit of an understatement. From the time Sarah and Jareth had left behind the dead carnivorous tree, both found them selves entrenched in what could only be described as a torrential downpour. The duo had barely walked more then five yards before they were soaked to the bone.

"Isn't there anyplace we can take cover?" Sarah yelled over the dominating sound of hard rain hitting stone.

"If we stop moving we'll never make it in time. We need to gain serious ground now if we want to rest later!" Jareth barked leading the way. Though he looked miserable in his current state there was a single minded sense of determination on his face that made Sarah feel like she was being fussy for wanting to stay dry.

Given that it was too hard to speak to one another through the heavy rain Sarah simply did her best to keep up with the Goblin King's long stride as they went. At least he seemed to know where they were going. The duo walked for several hours and though the rain did not cease it did eventually lighten to a cold drizzle. Exhausted from the cold and unused to this much physical endurance under such conditions Sarah finally couldn't go forward anymore.

It took Jareth a several feet before he realized she was no longer behind him on the path. When he failed to hear the faint scrapping of her tennis shoes on stone Jareth half turned to see the poor woman standing stock still ten feet behind him shaking from the cold.

"Sarah," Jareth called. The goblin King's nerves were already frayed as it was given that he was pretty much out of magic and apparently out a kingdom as well. To see a very real Sarah standing before him looking even more out of her element then he was made Jareth all the more resolved in his intentions to get them to the castle in one piece. "Come."

"I…I can't. I'm too cold." Sarah chattered. As much as she hated showing any weakness in front of Jareth, she couldn't help herself in this particular moment.

"Sarah, it wasn't a request. Now MOVE." Jareth commanded evenly with not a hint of pity for her.

Caught between the fear of dying from exposure and the greater fear that Jareth might leave her behind, Sarah gritted her teeth and willed herself to walk toward him. After a few steps she began to pick up some momentum and after a few more Jareth simply turned back around and kept walking with the expectation that Sarah would follow behind him.

"Is shelter even an option at this point?" Sarah mumbled through her teeth as the mist covered second sun began to dip down upon the horizon line.

"Our best chance is to keep heading towards the marsh lands at the eastern boarder. It's not exactly a direct root to the castle but…" Jareth trailed off apparently not feeling the need to finish his sentence. It was obvious he was just as tired as she was.

"God I hope that doesn't mean we're going to be traveling into the forest." Sarah remembered the last time she'd crossed paths with that part of the Labyrinth and unconsciously rubbed at her neck to reassure herself that it wasn't going anywhere.

"If you expect to have a rest and a chance to be dry for the night then, _yes_. We're going into the forest." The calculating look on Jareth's face was proof enough that he didn't like the idea either.

"What if we run into something…unpleasant?" Sarah asked trying to get a feel for their situation.

"You mean the head hunters, I assume." Jareth said dryly. "I'm hoping that if we do happen to get an untimely visit from the Wild Bunch that my presence as Goblin King will still have some kind of effect." Jareth highly doubted this would be the case however, particularly since the marsh lands and surrounding wild were technically out of bounds anyway.

"Besides the Fire Gang is not particularly fond of being wet so I'm counting on the rain to shield our presence in their forest."

"That is so NOT reassuring." Sarah muttered.

"Now where _are_ those blasted doors…" Turning the corner Jareth and Sarah found themselves on a little lawn. The walls were lower here. Pleasant again like the ones around the carnivorous tree had been.

Not really paying attention to anything in particular Sarah happened to glance down only to find a small arrow drawn in red lipstick on the stone ground. Though it was ever slightly faded it looked almost as pristine as the day Sarah had made it. "Jar…"

She was just about to point out the sign to Jareth when Sarah was rudely cut off by the Goblin King as he grabbed her by the upper arms and forcibly pull her towards him. This maneuver successfully managed to knock the curvy thirty nine year old off balance, bringing Jareth down with her, as they crashed into the adjacent stone wall causing them to land ungraciously in a heap together on the ground.

When she finally got around to prying open one tensely shut eye, Sarah realized she was flat on her back with Jareth spread atop her with has face planted unceremoniously in her wet hair. The unexpected fall momentarily incapacitated Sarah long enough to hear a loud elongated groan from Jareh in her ear.

"Wook ate dwat…Waaaah." Muttered a familiar voice tenderly as if it had something in it's mouth.

"Young Lovers….HOW REVOLTING! You know it's very rude to do THAT in PUBLIC!" Boomed a second grating voice louder than was really necessary even through the rain.

Sarah's eyes suddenly went wide as she realized what the voices were inferring and the highly compromising position she probably looked like she was in.

"Get off!" Sarah yelled kneeing, the slow to move, Jareth promptly in the general direction of his groin.

Regardless of whether she'd managed a direct hit or not Jareth sounded a satisfying "Oomph" before catapulting himself to the right in a half roll landing hard on his back in the process. By this time Sarah had already scrambled to her feet and angry embarrassment blossoming on her face.

"What the hell do you think your doing!?!" Sarah yelled through gritted teeth half tempted to kick the Goblin king lightly to further her point.

"If you'll _excuse_ the intrusion I was TRYING to _get up! _No thanks to you!" Jareth spat back cursing under his breath and he struggled to pick himself back up after her undignified attack. "Though you HAVEN'T noticed, the wall has shifted. If I hadn't of pulled you back when I did we would have gotten separated!" Jareth was still sitting in a half sprawled position on the ground.

Sure enough, when Sarah spun around to verify this explanation the wall behind her had shifted into a dead end. Meanwhile Jareth took the opportunity to get back up on his feet from which he then preceded to carefully check for damages and adjust himself.

"You are just lucky you missed." Jareth muttered sharply under his breath before turning to face the stone door knockers who were busy doing there best not to burst out laughing at this entire display.

"Fancy meeting YOU here. You're looking to be in a sorry state! Serves you right too!" The grumpy door knocker on the left muttered.

"Wis that is Mehje-E? Boi wha hapin to him?" The other door knocker asked sharply his eyes going wide.

"WHAT? HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO TALK WITH YOUR MOUTH _FULL_!" The other yelled.

"Oh God." Sarah rolled her eyes. "I've had enough of this." Pushing past Jareth, Sarah was about to cross over to the door knocker with the ring in his mouth and knock.

"Wait." Jareth interjected sharply. "I want to talk to them first."

"Ugh. Fine. Hey you!" Sarah was annoyed by this point. "Your former _boss_ wants a word. Now spit!" Sarah ordered effectually pulling the ring out of the door knockers mouth.

"I'm not the deaf one you know, Madam. That prune over there is!" The door knocker replied merrily after he'd smacked his lips a bit.

"What's going on in the castle?" Jareth launched directly into his interrogation.

"What makes YOU think WE know anything? We're just glorified DOOR ORNAMENTS!" The deaf door knocker grumbled irritably.

"I think not. If you don't care to share your information I can always relieve you of that inner ear problem that seems to be plaguing that hollow stone head of yours.." Jereth threatened. His voice had gone silky smooth which was greatly more unnerving then when the Goblin King was being boisterous.

"What exactly are you going to do? Torment us to death with witty barbs? HE'S deaf…and considering how long I've had to put up with THAT for company…" The former mute chuckled.

"Mumble mumble mumble! Your just SUCH a CONVERSATIONALIST!"

"Look! Everybody just…Shut up." Sarah ordered. "Haven't you figured out that that kind of attitude _isn't_ going to get you anywhere anymore?" Sarah whispered sharply after pulling Jareth aside. "Let me handle this…"

Taking a deep breath Sarah suddenly turned back around. Her scowl was now replaced with a sugar sweet smile hand her eyes had glazed over into a Bambi like dewiness.

"Excuse me gentleman for my friend's rudeness. He's just a lil cranky this morning. Bad hair day. I'm sort of lost and well I need to get to the castle beyond the Goblin City. Um, either of you wouldn't happen to know who's in charge there? Would you?" Sarah cooed. The idea was to seem as brainless as possible. Her college years had taught her the value of playing stupid when the situation warranted it and it seemed like the door knockers didn't recognize her from before which meant they didn't remember how she was.

"Oh haven't you heard? The castle is under new management…or at least it will be soon! As you can see, his Majesty's been kicked to the curb. But then that's what you get for making deals with out checking the fine print. It makes me glad to be a simple door knocker!" The door knocker proceeded to chuckle at his own comment which wasn't really that witty to begin with.

"How long do you think it'll be before this…er…new person takes control?" Sarah asked, Toby had to be at the castle. It seemed the most logical place.

"Assuming he goes quietly? Any day now I should think. It's been a long time since the Kingdom has had a proper ruler what with his Goblin-ness there letting the last potential candidate slip out of his fingers." The door knocker said mirthfully.

"A note of advice young woman! Never get between the Labyrinth and the thing it wants! It's BAD FOR ONES HEALTH!" The deaf door knocker offered.

"Oie. Come here. I wanna tell you something in private…" Muttered the other door knock glancing over at Jareth before indicating for Sarah to come very close so that it could whisper something into here ear.

"I'd be careful traveling with that one there if I were you, Miss. The Labyrinth has it in for him on account of the Goblin King falling to uphold his end of the bargain the last time someone came around to search out the castle." The door knocker told Sarah slyly giving her a wink and a nod.

"What's that? SPEAK UP! IT'S VERY INCONSIDERATE TO WHISPER IN MIXED COMPANY!" The deaf door knocker yelled.

"Nothing! I didn't say anything…You old coot!" Yelled the other door knocker as Sarah backed away with a perplexed look on her face.

"AH! He's told you about the bargain, has he then? JUST BAKES YOUR COOKIES, DON'T IT? Betcha thought his former majesty here brought your brother to the castle out of some mushy sentiment for YOU, eh? HA!" The deaf door nocks informed her with a cackle.

Both Sarah and the former Mute door knock glanced at Jareth who had been tapping his foot in impatience while he was waiting, only to then shake his head as the door knocker let loose the unwelcome admission regarding the past. Jareth momentarily looking up at the rough sky as if to ask 'Why me?' into the heavens.

Sarah arched one eyebrow at Jareth but decided she wanted to get some rest before she asked him to elaborate on that statement. She was also slightly peeved that the door knocker had implied that Sarah had somehow mis-read the Goblin King's intentions behind why he had appeared in the nursery that night to take her brother away.

It seemed all so juvenile now to think the Goblin King had had any romantic type feels for here. One thing was blaringly obvious….The Goblin King had NOT been excited to see Sarah a second time. Any romantic notion that blasted play might have inspired in Sarah as a teenager regarding the figure of the Goblin King, were now long gone.

"Are we done here?" Sarah asked flately.

Jareth snapped back to reality and nodded grimly.

"I'll go get the ring…" Sarah muttered.

"Don't bother. We're not going that way. I want to avoid landing ourselves in the territory of the Arid Flats. Given my choice between the Junk People and the Wild Gang I'd rather us take the chance of fighting for our extremities; At least with the head hunters we won't have to combat magick."

"Right removing ones head and punching it around like a beach ball isn't magical in the slightest." Sarah pointed out.

"Ha. Ha." Jareth replied. Stepping up to the deaf door knocker Jareth promptly knocked. As expected the door swung open and Jareth gave a condescending bow for Sarah to go first.

As it turned out the other door did in fact lead into what Sarah could only assume was the eastern wilderness. It was rather a relief to get out of the rain directly. At least in this part of the Labyrinth the thick canopy of the enormous trees shielded the duo somewhat from the rain. Not a lot but enough to be thankful for. Ironically it was almost soothing to be among the mostly normal flora of the Underground. If one didn't actually know they were in another world one might almost mistake the surroundings for some tropical rainforest.

"It'll be dark soon. Better to camp until morning's first light." Jareth explained. "There are things in this part of the Underground best left undisturbed during the dark hours and if we stay put ideally we shouldn't create any reason for us to draw any unwanted attention. Now if we keep to the wall…" Jareth stopped to survey the length of the Labyrinth wall that seemed to disappear above the canopy line.

Sarah watched Jareth quietly as he touched the stone wall with his gloved palms as he calculated their position. As she watched the tall blond man work it suddenly occurred to her that Sarah hand never seen this side of Jareth before.

Man, it was almost is if he was human, standing there like he wad, trying to figure out the best way to go about their situation. Where was the sarcasm? Where was the malice? Powerless or not it wasn't as if he HAD to do anything for her. Granted Jareth seemed to have just as much at stake as she did in the situation, if not more. However the fact that he was willing to travel with her could have simply been his way of conveniently achieving his own ends. Still. There was room for curiosity. After all, he knew his way around, and she didn't. So why didn't Jareth just ditch her? Could it be that the Goblin King actually had some sense gentlemanly honor?

"You're not frozen in place again are you? I'm really not fond of the idea of having to drag you about anymore then absolutely necessary. And if you think I'm gentlemanly enough to offer to carry you let me remind you that I did send the cleaners after you and Hoghead during you're pleasant stay in the oubliette. Still think the Labyrinth is a piece of cake, Sarah? Or did my little lesson actually resonate in that soft spongy little teenage mind of yours?" Jareth muttered as he stared at Sarah from up against the outer wall. Apparently she'd been so busy with her own thoughts she hadn't noticed Jareth watching her.

"You know…For a second there, I was actually beginning to think you had some small measure of humanity and compassion left in that dried up…sardonic…bitter…shell, you call a heart." Sarah chirped.

"Thanks for totally destroying any fragment of the good opinion I was forming of you. It's nice to know that even in the throws of impending doom you can still find the time to be a total and complete ass." Sarah replied in a matter of fact tone.

Seemingly pleased by the response his provocation inspired, Jareth crossed his arms idly over his chest as an ever so light amused smile crept at the corners of his mouth. "One does what one can. Now, as I was saying. if we follow the wall along here it should keep us in line with the labyrinth's shifting patterns. I'm hoping we can gain some higher ground while we're at it. If we do run into trouble I don't want to be caught completely at a disadvantage. Now, if I remember correctly there should be some small ruins up ahead a ways that we can use to take some cover with. At least we might be able to get out of this damn rain. " Jareth speculated.

Sure enough, after walking another thirty minutes or Sarah caught a glimpse of some large cut stones. Finally deviating from the wall the duo made there way towards the land mark. At first there were just a bunch of scattered mason stones standing at odd angles amongst the thick under brush but as they pushed on ward the dense trees began to thin to what could only be describes as a sort of clearing.

The clearing opened up onto a large broken stone foundation it was square in shape and the erected stone pillars that still stood where suggestive of supports for what might have at one time been some sort of large pavilion of some kind. Every now and then one could still make out the spots where stone benches had once sat.

Whatever wood structures that had likely been there were long since rotted away. It was obvious that the forest had largely reclaimed the soil the pavilion had been built on. Sarah could still see the remains of what looked like large stone garden chalices. It was not unreasonable to think that at one time the pavilion had looked quite beautiful. At its center was a large simple rectangular pool that likely once held small fish. It probably would have been bone dry if it hadn't been for the rain water which was now filling the pool to nearly full capacity.

"What is this place?" Even ruined as it was Sarah couldn't help but feel as if they were standing in a very significant place.

"Who knows?" Jareth said dryly. "Likely the architectural ruins built by someone who's no longer here. I know it's been awhile since I've been above ground but your people must still have some familiarity with places like Stonehenge or the temples of the Aztec. I should think this place follows along a similar idea. There. See that place along the far end where that wall has given way and formed a niche? It might be a little cramped but I believe we can take refuge in it comfortably enough to rest if not completely dry out."

Once both Sarah and Jareth had confirmed the niche was stable and wouldn't randomly collapse and crush them the duo went about settling in. Sitting on stone instead of dirt was a greatly appreciated as well as the opportunity to be completely shielded from the rain which had resumed it's pounding once more.

A few domestic touches later. Sarah had managed to convert their stone tent into something passing for comfortable. It appeared Sarah's little family camping trips as a child had proved useful after all. A couple of big leaves here, a few dampened twigs there and…Ta da! The only thing extra that would have made their shelter better would have been if they could have started a fire. At least then they could both properly dry out. Still. Sarah supposed they could manage well enough as it was. Getting out of the rain was improvement enough in her opinion.

Leaning with her back rested against the stone Sarah watched Jareth from the vantage point of the shelter. Given a chance to bunker down Jareth had apparently decided to take this opportunity to try and scrub the tree spittle out of his jacket and was currently sitting in the rain with his back to her as he meticulously soaked and scrubbed at his coat with a stone at the edge of the fountain.

In a way Sarah couldn't blame Jareth for wanting to put him self back into some order. After all for as much as she'd been through in the last day or so she could only imagine what it must have been like for him. The man was without magic in a magical land and despite his difficult nature Sarah couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. Was it true that the Labyrinth had it in for the Goblin King? What had he done that warranted his expulsion from the castle and the Labyrinth's power? What did it have to do with Toby? There were so many questions she wanted to ask.

Finally Jareth rose up from his crouching position indicating he's efforts were concluded as he wearily folded his blue jacket over one arm and walked back to the shelter.

"My. You _have_ been busy while I was away." Jareth observed. While still condescending, the comment lacked the insult that followed his usual dialogue.

"Don't bother thanking me. It isn't as if I did it specifically for your benefit. I was just trying to provide us a little insulation." Sarah replied. "I would really prefer to avoid hypothermia, thank you."

Jareth dropped his jacket and plopped down across from her folding one leg to his chest and curling the other around it. Given that Jareth had longer legs then Sarah did, he had less room to comfortably maneuver in. "You don't like me much, do you?"

"Excuse me?" Sarah blinked. "I'd say my feels toward you are pretty justified. Don't you think?"

"Not nessisarly…" Jareth replied raping his arms loosely around his leg.

"Is that so?" Sarah raised a dark eyebrow. "Lets recap why I have every right not to like you shall we? Let me see…Well you did drug me with an enchanted peach. Then there was also the Cleaner you sent after me and Hoggle in the Oubliette…and the shortening of my allotted time to beat the Labyrinth. Let me see…What am I forgetting? OH YEAH I REMEMBER NOW…You stole Toby away from me! Oh yeah you're totally a likable kind of guy. A complete gentleman. An utter man of your word…"

"FOR THE LAST TIM.E I DID NOT TAKE YOUR BABY BROTHER FROM YOU, SARAH! YOU WISHED HIM AWAY AND THE GOBLINS TOOK HIM." Jareth interrupted her.

"Yeah? Well thanks for the clarification there…GOBLIN KING! I'm sure you had nothing to do with holding my brother hostage and manipulating me into playing your stupid little game." Sarah spat back.

"Look stop…just…stop calling me that! I'm not the Goblin King. Not anymore. If you want to continue this argument then by all means, but while were going at it you could at least have the common courtesy to use my given name." Jareth's voice wavered as he spoke. Was that a shred of vulnerability in his tone? Or was it just a product of their current living conditions.

Sarah was only caught off guard for a minute. "Fine! How do you explain yourself then, Jareth? How do you explain any of this? If you weren't the one in control of everything…Who was?"

'It wasn't supposed to happen this way…I never planed that any of it would unfold the way it did! When you think of me, back then, you assume I had a level of choice. I came to you that night in the nursery because the goblins had an interest in your brother and I was bound to their power and subject to their collective will so when they went, so did I. If I used that connection to accomplish my own ends and tried to manipulate the situation to my advantage then that was my purgative."

"But…why?" Sarah wanted to understand. If her interpretation of what had happened before and why it happened was wrong, what was the right explanation?

"Why? Haven't you ever felt trapped, Sarah? Did it ever occur to you that I don't belong in this world anymore then you do? Did it ever cross your mind that perhaps I was meant for something else once upon a time? I'm more or less just as human as you are for Christ's sake." Jareth had plucked small dampened green leaf from the stone ground and was stripping it as he spoke."If you felt trapped in an unworkable situation wouldn't you do whatever you could to escape? I won't deny I tried to use you to get out of my unpleasant position."

Jareth hesitated. "It wasn't personal, Sarah." At that Jareth finally looked up from the ground to peer at her.

Sarah was silent and still as if she was slowly soaking it all in like a dry sponge in a small disk of water. Her chin was jutted forward and was resting upon her knees which were both pressed securely to her chest. "What does it exactly mean to be a Goblin King?"

A mirthless thin grin crept onto Jareth's face. "It's more of a joke you might say. Think of the position in the context of a royal court. Every Kingdom has it King and every King has his fool. The position of Goblin King is simply a creative title for what is essentially a position of servitude and mockery. As goblin King it was my job to cater to the Goblin's, the present King who in this case was not around, and by association the Labyrinth itself. Trust me, it's not as glamorous as it sounds. Goblins are vile, putrid, irritating, dirty creatures. While they may seem simple enough on the surface they can be sly little worms when they want to be."

"As for the incident in the nursery…I didn't choose to appear before you. It was a matter of circumstance. When you uttered your wish the goblins came and I came with them." Jareth explained tensely.

"Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you warn me if you knew what was really going on?" Sarah asked. Somehow it was more hurtful to know Jareth had known of the situation all along and hadn't had even the slightest regard for her innocence.

"I warned you of the dangers from the beginning." Jareth indigently corrected her once again. "I practically _begged_ you to take my offer in trade for your brother. If you would have simply agreed everything would be different now." There was a note of deep remorse in Jareth tone and he paused a moment in reflection before continuing. The remorse however seemed to be for him self and not for Sarah.

"Even when you refused my little gift I did everything in my power to dissuade you from pursuing your brother in that wretched maze…but you foolishly insisted." Jareth explained grimly. "Granted I never imagined you'd actually do it, get to the castle, I mean. It was my intention that you would give up long before that."

"You mean like you did?" Sarah asked heavily as she looked up at him through her lashes.

"What are you chirping on about now?" Jareth muttered. It seemed he was growing tired of arguing with her.

"Well it's only logical. I mean how would you know, if you didn't run the Labyrinth youself at some point? Come on Jareth, come clean. Just how did you get into the Labyrinth anyway?"

"THAT not only has absolutely no relevance to the current matter, but it is also MY business and not for you to know. Now if you DON'T mind I am very tired." Jareth grumbled defensively, It was obvious that his personal history was not open for discussion.

"Oh you're such a baby." Sarah hissed pushing Jareth lightly at the knee. "One more question Go...I mean, Jareth." Sarah caught herself before she completely called him by his former title.

Jareth sighed. "What?"

"What exactly WAS your bargain with the Labyrinth all about?" Sarah asked slyly.

Jareth, who had been looking out into the rain by this point, slowly turned his head back and sneered as if he was debating whether or not he actually had to tell her anymore then he already had.

"I wanted to get out of this…place." Jareth indicated to their genrel surroundings. "When the goblins suddenly started to take interest in you and your brother, I saw an opportunity. So I made a bargain with the Labyrinth stipulating that if, at any time, I could convince you to forfeit up your right to claim your brother back I would be granted the possibility of leaving this place for good."

It was a short answer and a simple one at that. Then something occurred to Sarah that she had never considered before. "You assumed that because I was young and idealistic that, assuming I took the boon of my fantasies in exchange for Toby, you would be included in the package. You willfully seduced me, thinking that I would…what? I'd think of you like a fairy prince charming come to whisk my, Cinderella-like angsty, teenage self away?"

"Aye." Jareth admitted dryly. "Look it isn't as if I'm proud of it, Sarah. You were just a child for God sake…I just wanted out. I didn't care how. Besides it doesn't matter anyways. You won…You went back home. You beat me at my own game. Can we _please_ go to sleep now? I am exhausted from all this chatter. If you must continue to harass me with pointing out all the horrible cruel things I did to you back then, so be it; but let's do it in the morning. In spite of my past desertions I have agreed to help you now… So I don't think you have any right to complain." Jareth paused as he jerked his body into a more relaxed position and place his jacket about his shoulders.

"I feel I shall parish while trying to live up to you're unrealistic expectations of me." He muttered before allowing his eyes to slip shut.

Sarah eye balled the former goblin King. My…He did look comfortable. Sarah snorted at the sight of him. "Yep. A true gentleman to the end you are…" She grumbled under her breath annoyed that he didn't even have the common decency as a man to offer her his coat while they slept. Sarah did her best to lay down the long way into the curve of the stone slab. At least she didn't have to look at him anymore for the night.


	12. Lady Sarah and the Golden Apple

By the first light of the next morning the torrential rain fall of the previous day had finally ceased leaving the labyrinth as well as the surrounding wilds of the Underground strewn with a fresh coating of rejuvenating dew that sparkled in the light like diamonds scattered across the landscape. When Sarah awoke she already knew without looking that Jareth wasn't with her in their stone tent. This was not through some great superior sense of intuition but rather by the simple realization that Jareth had left his coat behind.

Despite the fact that the coat in question was currently pulled up around Sarah's shoulders it was hard to say if Jareth had placed it there out of some second hand courtesy or if Sarah herself had simply acquired it by her own hand sometime after he had gone. Pressing her hands to her face the middle aged woman groaned audibly as she rubbed some feeling back into her cheeks. All things considered Sarah had slept solidly even with her cloths still being slightly damp against her skin.

One of the many odd things about being in the underground was that besides the apparent freak incident like the rain storm the over all temperature never really changed. In fact Sarah couldn't ever recall feeling any kind of instance of wind or other factors that would have contributed to changes in the over all experience of the labyrinth's climate; at least not without the influence of someone like Jareth conjuring up something for dramatic effect.

Sarah wondered for a moment if that had to do with the Labyrinth itself or if it was actually a greater characteristic of the Underground as a whole.

After giving herself a moment to mentally prepare for the day ahead Sarah sighed and, with the blue coat still about her shoulders, crawled from their tent to locate the man with the plan so that they could get things started again. At first it seemed that Jareth was nowhere to be found and upon this discovery Sarah felt the first twinges of panic begin to form at the edges of her mind. How could he leave her behind at a time like this? Sarah could already feel the accusation forming on her lips as her disappointment and frustrations begin to reach a breaking point.

Despite being nearly forty she was just about to regress into a very juvenile temper tantrum of swearing and stomping about when the sound of what seemed like stone being rubbed against stone off in the direction of the Labyrinth wall disrupted her thoughts and encouraged the woman to investigate what the noise actually was and where it was coming from.

"What are you doing?" Sarah questioned upon discovering Jareth in the middle of some kind of task. It had taken a little walking to figure out where the sound was coming from and by the time Sarah had stomped through the woods aways without having any real idea of where she was going or what she might find, she found herself thoroughly annoyed again. "Ever heard of telling someone when you go somewhere?"

Jareth only stopped long enough to meet Sarah's brown eyes with his own mismatched ones as if to say that he thought she was being unreasonable and had no intention reacting to it. He then went back to the task he was performing.

"I needed to make something I could cut with and you were still asleep." Jareth added. "Trust me, Sarah. If I was going to leave you behind I would have done so already. I do, however, _aspire_ to be a man of my word. So there you are."

"Huh." Sarah grunted as she leaned up against a tree and crossed her legs. "I didn't realize you knew how to do that."

"Yes well I'm sure there are a lot of things you'd find surprising about me." He replied while testing the edge of the flat rock he'd been shaping with the padding of his thumb.

Apparently the edge was more than adequately sharp fore a thin strip of blood appeared almost immediately after Jareth lifted the edge from his skin. A satisfied, if grim, smile formed upon the former Goblin King's mouth as he observed the results of his own handy work.

"What are you planning on doing with that anyway?" Sarah crossed her arms as she tried to draw as much of her own warmth to her exposed skin as possible.

"Actually...I was hoping you might do something with it." Jareth replied looking up at her once more as he observed a quizzical look cross the brunettes features.

Twenty minutes later Jareth and Sarah where back upon the platform of the old ruins. Jareth was positioned in a crouched position at the pools edge once more, while Sarah sat upon her knees behind him trying to wrestle with Jareth's long mane like hair that was now more of a rats nest than anything else.

"Care-ful. Careful now." Jareth directed with a definite nervous air in his tone.

"Be quiet and hold still." Sarah ordered. "God, Jareth. That tree drool you got in your hair is like glue! Oh and by the way I feel it's my duty as your volunteer stylist that the Tina Turner look you've had going went out of style decades ago. You really need to get with the times."

"Are you through?" Jareth muttered. "I'd just like to point out that I'm not expecting miracles here. All I ask is that you cut it down to something manageable and do it quietly. The sap will work itself out on its own."

"I'm amazed you trust me with your hair at all truthfully. I mean this could be a golden opportunity for me to really do something terrible to you." She muttered ignoring his request for silence. "Luckily for you, I'm not that petty. OK. I think that's about the best I can do."

Sarah pushed herself back into a standing position and took a few steps back to observe her handy work. Though it had taken a good few dunks in the pool and a bit of make shift assistance from a tub of chap stick Sarah had discovered in her pocket to get Jareth's remaining hair to lay flat; the end result had turned out pleasing enough. Most of the gunk in his hair had been at the hair tips and not at the base of his head. With some effort Sarah had been able to drastically cut away much of the excess so that Jareth's hair looked much more normal by her standards.

While it was still a bit long in the back and along the sides Jareth now looked the way Sarah imagined he would have looked had he been a regular man in the regular world. Sarah also noted again how his hair had taken on a darker hue of honey which while wet looked almost brown.

"Very nice." Jareth said lightly as he studied himself in the pool's reflective surface. "I must admit that under the circumstances you've done a fine job."

"Wow. You actually complimented me. I'm truly shocked." Despite their somewhat antagonistic relationship Sarah actually smirked a little behind Jareth's back.

"Here. You might want this back now." She said shrugging off Jareth's blue tattered coat now that she was fully dry before helping him back into it after he'd sighed and rose from out of his crouched position. "So what's the plan Magic Man? Where are we heading next?"

It appeared he'd gotten a tad stiff sitting in the position he'd been in for most of the early morning. "We go back to following the wall. We might have to do a bit of climbing but the idea is to position ourselves near the Bog of Eternal Stench. I'm counting on what's left of the Labyrinth Knights to assist us. If we plan on getting into the actual castle at some point we're going to need it."

Staying true to their plan Jareth and Sarah soon left their camp site behind and continued their journey along the Labyrinth wall. Despite the seriousness of their task Sarah couldn't help but appreciate the lush tropic like greenery around them that she hadn't really had the time or ability to enjoy the first time around. Minus the head hunters, which had thankfully not made an appearance, Sarah had to admit that this part of the Underground was pleasurably striking.

"You know I never really got to appreciate any of this the first time I was here." Sarah remarked making conversation as they hiked along the edge of the wall. "It really is beautiful when I stop to look at it all."

"The Labyrinth, and the Underground in general, has always had its charms when one isn't in any imminent danger of falling victim to any unspeakable pit falls. Don't ever forget how dangerous this place can be, Sarah. The dangers you experienced the last time you were here were child's play in comparison to what could truly be unleashed within or outside of the Labyrinth's bounds."

"Huh. I don't know, Jareth. If the stuff you threw at me was nothing but child's play you certainly had me fooled. Half the time I was in the Labyrinth I was seriously afraid for my life and the other half of the time I was usually confused and fustrated as all hell." She replied.

"The point was never to actually hurt you. Everything I threw at you was carefully calculated to incite fear and hopelessness, I'll admit. But within reason I would have never allowed physical harm to actually befall you. There were always safeties put securely in place throughout your journey, by myself and others, to ensure you didn't actually die; which considering the Labyrinth's history isn't exactly an improbable possibility."

"Within reason, eh? How sweet of you. That really would have never occurred to me with they way you were behaving." Sarah muttered flatly. "But I guess I can see your point. I suppose I shouldn't take it for granted that Hoggle always conveniently showed up just when I really needed him or that every time I got a little stuck something always seemed to come along with some direction. You have to admit though that the peach thing was pushing it a little. You might use a lot of pretty props Jareth and its true that I may not really know much, if anything, about you; but I'm willing to bet that you enchanting that peach and giving it to Hoggle to pawn off on me was ultimately beneath you in retrospect."

"Maybe so." Jareth conceded without actually admitting he was wrong. "I will confess, you ending up at the mercy of the Arid Flats wasn't exactly something I'd planed to have happen to you. You're very lucky to have friends in high places watching out for your well being Sarah; because if it would have been left up to me you would have enjoyed the dismal fate of becoming one of the Arid flats latest casualties."

"So you're telling me that you would have left me there to rot? Thanks! Thanks a lot." There was that faint accusation in Sarah's tone again as her eyes went wide at the prospect of Jareth so completely throwing her to the proverbial wolves.

"Well," Jareth paused near a part of the wall that had a thick rope hanging down from it and turned to face her. The rope was apparently another relic from Sarah's past experience left forgotten by time. "I can't honestly tell you what I might have done. Particularly since I had absolutely no idea you'd landed yourself in the Junk People's domain to begin with. That being said, I suppose that in retrospect it would have been in my best interest to assist you given that I still had need of you to fulfill my bargain."

"You didn't know? How is that possible?" Sarah inquired.

"Contrary to what you probably believe I didn't exactly keep constant track of your progress through the labyrinth the last time you were here. There were other things I had going on to be preoccupied with after all." Jareth indicated to the rope which Sarah instantly grabbed and began climbing.

"Like Toby?" Sarah grunted through gritted teeth as she hoisted herself up.

"Yes. Among other things. Would you have rather had me leave him strictly in the goblins care for any prolonged length of time?" Jareth inquired as he followed shortly behind.

"No. But I'd just like to say...That in light of what you've already told me...I think it was a little sloppy of you not to take more of an interest in what I was doing and where I was. If our positions had been reversed I would have." After a lot of huffing and puffing Sarah managed to get to the top of the wall and, with some ungracious scrambling, was able to get herself over the edge and back on solid ground again.

Jareth followed shortly behind and when it was his turn to maneuver himself over the wall's edge Sarah was nice enough to grab him by the upper arms and help Jareth pull himself over unasked. Once they were securely upon the wall both Sarah and Jareth immediately plopped to the ground as they leaned up against the edge they'd just come over while they caught there breath.

"Somehow...I remember that being easier the first time." Sarah swallowed hard before she instantly covered her nose with one sleeve. "Uh! It certainly smells the same as before."

"A right pile of steaming shit, the Bog of Eternal Stench is." Jareth agreed, although he made no effort to stifle the stench. "Its amazing how one can become acclimated to it though. Most of the goblins around these parts wouldn't know what you were making all the fuss about." Jareth remarked.

"Yeah, yeah. Less talking more moving. I think I'm going to gag." Sarah muttered through fabric as she got back onto her feet. It only took a few minutes to realize that they had a new problem on their hands. "You know there was a ledge along here originally. I notice no one got around to fixing that since Hoggle and I almost took a dip the last time I was here."

"Yes well as I recall you should just be able to drop from over there onto solid ground." The duo scouted out the edge of the wall that ran along the gurgling glumping goo of the Bog of Eternal Stench which bridged the out laying wilds with the Labyrinth itself. "What would you say? About ten feet?"

Sarah nodded as she gauged the distance to the ground for herself. "Yeah. Doesn't look too hard but I cant see exactly where the land ends and the bog starts. I don't much feel like taking a blind leap down there only to land knee deep is that horrible stuff."

"Fair enough." Jareth turned away a moment as he walked a few steps back to where they'd climbed up the wall in order to retrieve Hoggle's rope. "Here. I'll lower you down. If you don't find it to be satisfactory I can just pull you back up and we'll find another way. I promise I won't drop you."

At first Sarah didn't look too confident in Jareth's abilities in the matter but one way or another the bog was a necessary evil if they wanted to get to the castle and time was running out. "All right fairy foot but I swear to God that if you drop me..."

"I won't. Now come. Lets get on with it." A slight hint of amusement at her mistrust of him hinted at the corners of Jareth's mouth as he secured one end of the rope around his body and dropped the rest for Sarah to secure as she saw fit.

True to his word Jareth did, in fact, not drop Sarah; but deliver her safely to alcove below. He then, in typical boyish fashion, climbed down after her by hand jumping the last six feet to land securely beside her on the ground. After coiling the rope back up and placing it over one shoulder Sarah and Jareth made their way in the direction of where the old bridge had once been. But before either of them could comment on its current lack of existence something quick and furry darted out from behind a rather large tree to jump in front of their path.

"Halt and make thee known, Strangers! Raw-raw-ruff!" The little creature looked to be the size of a small goblin but had all the aesthetic features of a fox dressed in a yellow and blue shirt, red vest, and blue cap with a yellow feather sticking out from it.

"Ye-ah! Sir Didymus? Sir Didymus it really is you! It's me. It's Sarah!" Sarah said grabbing the tip of Sir Didymus staff to keep him from swinging it about in his oftentimes overly exuberant way.

"My Lady?" Sir Didymus stopped thrashing to look up at Sarah with his uncover eye.

"Yes!" Sarah reassured him happily.

"But what is thou doing back, and away from thy homeland?" The foxed questioned with surprise.

"I'm on another quest. There isn't much time to explain and I...I mean we...Need your help." Sarah turned her head to glance side long at Jareth who had remained a few feet behind. The look on his face was curious and Sarah realized for the first time that Jareth almost seemed self conscious about something as he kept his distance from the Labyrinth knight whom he was watching with narrowed eyes and a mild scowl.

It seemed Sir Didymus either didn't recognize Jareth as Sarah's foe from her original quest or he simply had never seen the former Goblin King in person. Either way the Knight seemed to have no realization of who Jareth was in relation to Sarah at the present moment. Sarah was about to say something regarding that when she caught the man in question gesturing slightly with his hand and moving his head ever so slightly to the negative.

"My lady is with a companion?" The fox's bushy eye brows rose as he glanced around Sarah's crouched body to discover Jareth looking innocuously off at some random point to the man's left. "Ho! Good sir. Any friend of the Lady Sarah is a friend of thine."

Unable to avoid the acquaintance now, Jareth finally stepped forward and -to Sarah's surprise and confusion- bowed at the waist pressing his right fist to his heart. "Good evening, Captain. The Lady Sarah and myself are indeed in want of your assistance."

"I have been-" Jareth rose out of the bow graciously and briefly glanced at Sarah as he spoke as if to remind her that he was fudging the circumstances of their arrangement on purpose. "-honored with the duty of delivering the Lady Sarah to the Castle beyond the Goblin City but my companion and I have reason to believe that we might face some difficulties in this matter pertaining to gaining access to the castle itself. I don't suppose that you have heard or seen anything of significance in the last few days?"

"Why yes noble sir. Though I know naught the details, I understand that a young nave has taken up residence within the castle and that the blessed Good Mother has personally come to oversee the upcoming proceedings at..." Sir Didymus started to inform him.

"Wait. What proceedings?" Sarah interjected.

Jareth's chin dropped against his throat which caused his eyes to look even more hooded in appearance than they were naturally and his mouth twisted down in a flat frown as if he had an acidic taste come into his mouth.

"Well 'em. You see, Sarah. It would appear that the Labyrinth has finally settled on a new custodian for the governing of its power." Jareth braced himself internally for the fire that he knew was about to start. Sarah had the ability to be quite forceful indeed and now that she'd become an adult he had no doubt she'd refined the quality.

"You mean its settled on Toby, don't you?" Sarah felt a wave a sickness come over her as her stomach turned over and her lids drifted shut as a terrible realization struck her causing Sarah to brace herself against a nearby tree. "This is what this entire thing is all about. What its always been all about."

"Sarah-" Jareth could see the woman's slow burning anger begin to rise to a high heat.

"No. Don't you dare say a word to me. I tried to protect Toby and here I come to find none of it made a damn bit of difference?" Sarah's jaw squared visibly and her free hand formed into a tight fist. Regardless of whether or not Jareth deserved her wrath, Sarah was inclined to take her feelings about the situation out on him given despite any lack of real culpability.

"Sarah, I-" Jareth tried to interject again but failed to produce anything that would have given him any kind of asylum in his present position.

"And anyway what the hell do you care! You got what you wanted didn't you? Well you know what Jareth? I really hope that you're happy for yourself. You went and got everything you ever wanted and to hell with the rest of us." Sarah muttered heatedly taking a dangerous looking step in his direction.

This time Jareth wasn't about to back down and he was getting entirely fed up with Sarah blaming him, every time it became convenient, for things that were quite beyond all of their control.

"You don't know what I want." Jareth practically hissed at her taking his own threatening step forward. "Now stop this. None of it is getting you anywhere."

Jareth side stepped Sarah has he peered in the direction of the castle.

"If the Good Mother is overseeing things that probably means there's still some time left before anything permanent happens. Look at the sky." Jareth walked a few feet away from her and pointed into the sky with one long limb.

"There's probably at least another day left before the completion of the eclipse. And anyway your brother doesn't have to agree to anything. It was you who won him that right all those years ago. You can't go and give up now just because things got a little more difficult than you expected. I happen to know first hand that you're better than that." He pointed out.

During this entire heated exchange between the humans Sir Didymus could only look on in startled confusion at the entire conversation. Luckily his agape look caught Jareth's attention causing the man to sigh and regain some composure. "Sir Knight, is it plausible to get as far as the Goblin City?"

"Eh, yes?" Didymus replied as one furry ear perked up upon being addressed.

"Good. Then that is where we will go. Its been a hard journey and I think we're all a little out of sorts." Jareth eyed Sarah as if to say that she was more out of sorts at the moment than anyone else. "It might do us some good to eat and rest in order to regain some strength and think about our options. Sir Didymus, I would be honored if you would join us."

"Why I would be delighted good Sir." The fox bowed to Jareth removing his feathered hat.

Nodding Jareth returned his attention back to his feminine companion "Sarah? Are you coming?"

"Go on ahead. I want a few minutes alone if that's OK." She replied sullenly as she stepped around one of the large trees that the fox commonly used as his home and stared absently at some point among the foliage. Sarah needed some time to think and she wanted to do it without Jareth hovering around her. Just the thought of him irritated her at the moment.

"Fine." Jareth said as he gnashed his pointy teeth. "Stay on the path and don't linger too long."

"Mightn't I stay behind my Lady? I should never forgive thy self if harm were to fall upon thee." The fox inquired with an air of concern.

"No Sir Didymus. I'll be all right. Go with Jareth and I'll be along in a few minutes." Sarah reassured the fox.

"As you wish, my...Lady." Didymus did not seem very keen on leaving Sarah behind but because she had insisted he knew better than to argue with her.

Sarah watched from her position near the tree as fox and man carefully skipped the stepping stones that Ludo the yeti had called up from the putrid depths so long ago. A wave of sad nostalgia griped her. Everything had been so much easier when she was a child despite her naive perceptions at the time. Even the smallest grievance back than had been seemed monumental and now things really were that massive.

The more Sarah thought about it the more she had to quietly admit, if only to herself, that beyond all other parties involved she herself had been the one to put Toby in the position he was currently facing. Granted the Labyrinth had no doubt eyed Toby for an indeterminable length of time before he had been originally taken away, but Sarah had been the one to say the right words that had given the Labyrinth and the goblins the proper window of opportunity they had needed to abduct him in the first place. And for that, Sarah felt deeply ashamed.

Feeling deeply sorry for herself at that moment Sarah walked more completely behind the large willowy tree and slid down its trunk to sit upon the grassy ground at the base of it so that she was complete hidden among the vegetation. Despite the strong stench of the bog Sarah could smell a faint hint of apple blossom in the air and the closer that she was to the vegetation around her the less noticeable was the bog itself. Maybe this was what Sir Didymus had meant about not being able to smell the bogs odor when they'd first met?

Sarah pulled her knees toward her chest and rested her chin upon them as she closed her eyes and tried to think on happier feelings from better times. Just as Sarah was starting to relax into a meditative lull the sound of a large bird taking flight somewhere up in the tree she was leaning against caused her to snap back into herself. Sighing with the understanding that she really couldn't afford to sit around and wallow in self pity Sarah told herself that she was just going to have to suck things up and deal with them. With this in mind the brunette move out of her current position to get back upon her feet when something happened to catch her eye through the brush directly in front of her.

Narrowing her eyes Sarah reached forward and instead of getting up, pulled aside the long grass and weeds in front of her to uncover the rough base of another tree. This in itself was unremarkable but as Sarah leaned farther forward to look at what had crossed her sight she she noticed that someone had etched some sentences into the trunk of the tree. Upon closer inspection Sarah realized it was part of a poem, although she couldn't recall if she'd seen it somewhere else before. The poem was outlined in a rectangle as if it were written on a page. The words read as follows:

_**I will find out where she has gone**_

_**And kiss her lips and take her hands;**_

_**And walk among the the dappled grass,**_

_**And pluck till time and times are done**_

_**The silver apples of the moon,**_

_**The golden apples of the sun.**_

Sarah touched the etched words with the tips of her fingers tracing their carefully carved out shapes. ".And I will walk among the dappled grass...Why does that sound so familiar?"

"It's part of The Song of Wondering Aengus. A poem by William Butler Yeats." A familiar voice replied gently from some place above and behind her.

Sarah turned her head to peer up at no one other than Jareth who had apparently returned to find her when she had not come to meet them in a reasonable amount of time. It was impossible to say how long he had been standing there watching her.

Deeming it safe to approach Jareth careful stepped between the trees and offered her his hand so that she could get back to her feet.

"I knew that I think. I just can't remember the rest of it." Sarah confessed accepting his hand as he hoisted her back to a standing position.

Jareth nodded as he helped Sarah step out upon the path.

"_I went out to the hazel wood,_

_Because a fire was in my head,_

_And cut and peeled a hazel wand,_

_And Hooked a berry to a thread;_

_And when white moths were on the wing,_

_And moth-like stars were flickering out_

_I dropped the berry in a stream_

_And caught a little silver trout._

_When I had laid it on the floor_

_I went to blow the fire aflame,_

_But something rustled on the floor,_

_And some one called me by my name:_

_It had become a glimmering girl_

_With apple blossom in her hair_

_Who called me by my name and ran_

_And faded through the brightening air."_

As Jareth recited most of the poem he helped Sarah across the bog lifting her slightly upon the finally rock to ensure he landed upon solid ground in one piece. Sarah was caught slightly off guard but she didn't protest his gesture.

"You're welcome." He replied despite the fact that Sarah hadn't thanked him.

"When does the dappled part come in?" She asked as they started walking after he had let her go.

Jareth picked up the final lines in the poem stopping to recite them. It seemed he'd committed the entire thing to memory.

"_Though I am old with wandering_

_Through hollow lands and hilly lands,_

_I will find out where she has gone,_

_And kiss her lips and take her hands;_

_And walk among long dappled grass,_

_And pluck till time and times are done_

_The silver apples of the moon,_

_The golden apples of the sun."_

"I can't believe you memorized that whole thing." Sarah commented.

"It was my favorite poem as a young man and in light of my life experiences her in the Underground I find it personally relevant." Jareth replied as he started walking again.

"Look, um...I'm sorry about earlier Jareth. I was a bit upset and I might have unfairly targeted you in my anger." In retrospect Sarah felt guilty about her behavior and suddenly felt the need to clear the air.

"You don't have to apologize to me, Sarah. I've certainly antagonized you enough throughout our acquaintance that its only fair you should pay me back a bit for my trespasses." He conceded.

"Life isn't fair." Sarah remarked absently. Wasn't that something she had learned because of the Labyrinth and because of him?

"No. It isn't." Jareth agreed. "Which is why it's so easy to take certain things for granted."

"Huh. And what have you ever taken for granted?" Sarah had asked mostly in an attempt to keep the line of conversation going as they neared the now unguarded gate of the goblin city.

"Well," Jareth thought a moment. "You for one."

Silence settled between them then and Sarah suddenly found herself at a loss for anything to say in reply.

Luckily just as things were threatening to become extremely uncomfortable the brunette thought she caught sight of what appeared to be an apple tree that had rooted itself just around the entrance gate to the Goblin City. Sarah might have dismissed the small tree as just another abstract plant if it hadn't been for the sight of a single large apple dangling temptingly from one outstretched limb just an inch or two above the line of Sarah's head. As it just so happened the fruit in question looked so lusciously ripe and golden yellow that Sarah might not have recognized it as an apple at all if not for the sinfully strong smell the fruit was giving off.

Suddenly Sarah heard more than felt her stomach gurgle as the tantalizing image of food actually reminded her of the fact that she'd been practically fasting since the night Rachel had show up knocking on the cabin's front door.

Tempting as it seemed Sarah wasn't foolish enough to blindly reach out and pluck it from its place until she was sure of its trustworthiness as something she could and should put in her mouth. Fortunately for her, Sarah happened to have an a perfectly good resource for all things strange and unusual in the Labyrinth standing practically right beside her.

"Erm...Jareth. Is that what I think it is?" Sarah asked as she lightly grasped Jareth's blue coat at the upper arm and turned him slightly to point at the spot to the top left of the City's entrance where the apple hung unassumingly to the far left yet unmistakable to the eye.

"My God, I don't believe it. A golden apple." Jareth replied almost stupidly as he looked on with some mild wonder.

"Yes. I can see that its a golden apple but..."

"You have to understand I've read and been told stories about them but," Jareth slanted his head ever so slightly leaning closer towards the specimen to study it further. "I must confess I never expected to see one during my lifetime."

"It doesn't do anything strange, does it?" Sarah remembered reading legends and folklore involving golden apples and she seemed to recall quite a few fairy tales involving the fruit in general that gave her caused to pause. Not to mention she'd already had one former bad experience under her belt involving the Labyrinth and an enchanted fruit.

"As I understand it...apples, particularly of the variety you see before you, are considered to be entirely non-existent anywhere with the exception of a few remote and mythical places of referance I've only heard and read about." Jareth confirmed with a speculative look on his face. "I've heard and read that such a fruit has the ability to impart immortality among other things but I admit I've never seen it applied first hand ."

"Yeah, OK. So what do we do about it?" Sarah asked impatiently she she stared at the fruit with wary curiosity. "I mean we should take it for granted that something that's supposed to be non-existent it just randomly decided to grow right smack dab where anyone could find it."

"Mm. I see you point and I'm inclined to agree with you in this venture." Jareth replied rubbing his lips absently with the point of one of his fingers. "Well... Seeing as you noticed it first, perhaps that's an indication you should take it."

"Right. I seem to recall that working out real well for me the last time." She muttered remembering when she'd taken the enchanted peach Hoggle had offered her and how that fiasco had turned out.

"Yes well I don't really care what you do just as long as we can get on with it. Just because you take it with you Sarah; doesn't mean you actually have to do anything with it. Besides under the current circumstances it could prove helpful to you down the line sometime. Don't you think?" Jareth reasoned.

Sarah sighed. What if the apple really had been placed for her to specifically find? Helpful elements had always shown up seemingly at random the last time she'd been on a quest involving the Labyrinth and as Jareth had hinted at not all of the helpful hints she'd gotten along the way had been because of him.

"Man. I seriously hope I don't come to regret this." Sarah said pushing up her selves as she stepped forward and gently twisted the fruit from its place upon the branch.


	13. A Man Named Jareth

As it had been the first time Sarah entered through the main gates leading into the city, the Goblin City itself seemed completely deserted and this time there wasn't even a guard at the city gates to sneak past.

"Its not always like this is it?" Given her last experience Sarah half expected hordes upon hordes of goblins to appear any moment and ambush them yet the only signs of life she could see as she was escorted into the out skirts of the city by Jareth was the occasional gaggle of chickens pecking.

"Goblins are earth dwellers. They don't generally live on the surface in the conventional way you're thinking. I can only assume the Good Mother has restricted them to the castle proper until your brother can be convinced to assume sovereignty over the Labyrinth and the Goblin City." Jareth explained as he helped her pick their way through the narrow streets. From the look of things nothing had been remotely repaired since the great battle that had taken place the first time Sarah had forced her way into the castle.

"But then who lives in these homes? From what I remember they seemed to be occupied. Well, that is, until Ludo and the goblins knocked a lot of them down the last time I was here." Sarah shrugged.

"Many of the building in the Goblin City were erected and occupied by the Labyrinth knights long ago. This used to be a very diverse place once. There were goblins, yes, but there were many other creatures that made this place their home as well. Many were intellectual animals like your Sir Didymus or dwarves. Some of the goblin lines who intermingled with other races remained in these dwelling which is why they looked lived in the last time you were here." Jareth's tone was pensive as if he were pulling much of his information from memory.

"So what happened? Why is everything so deserted now?" Sarah inquired while they walked.

"War. Civil war to be exact. By the end the Knights of the Labyrinth were all but obliterated and those who survived either fled or died out. Eventually only the goblins remained and the Labyrinth was reduced to what you see of it. Most of that was before my time though." The topic at hand was obviously not something Jareth enjoyed talking about.

"Most; but not all." Sarah speculated grimly although before she had time to ask Jareth to elaborate on his specific experiences their conversation was interrupted by Sir Didymus who was frantically barking and waving his staff at them from several yards ahead.

"Aye. As for right now there are probably a few individuals still around who aren't directly bound by the Good Mother's influence. If we run into any they'll probably ignore us." Jareth remarked.

"My lady and Sir! Come hither so that we may break bread. Ruff-ruff-Ruff!" Sir Didymus announced loudly and with gusto before he disappeared down some dusty steps of what appeared to be a mostly collapsed hovel.

"Is, um, he always like this?" Jareth inquired lightly with one raised brow while he exchanged looks with Sarah after they watched the fox disappear.

"Ha, yeah. I know he seems annoying now but he's actually really sweet. By the way be nice to him Jareth, OK? While the concept might be foreign to you, Sir Didymus is my friend and I don't want you hurting his feelings. Got that?" Sarah commanded.

"Friendship. Yes. I'm mildly aware of such things." Jareth said in a haunty fashion that was supposed to be amusing.

Unfortunately Sarah didn't look very amused.

"I would never insult a Knight of the Labyrinth, Sarah. Particularly one who has so graciously agreed to help me." Jareth muttered more seriously.

For once Sarah was inclined to believe him without question. Since they'd come across the fox, Jareth seemed different. It was almost as if he was going out of his way to be polite which seemed completely out of character for him to be doing. Before Sarah could think too deeply about this however, her stomach gurgled loudly and threatened to cramp reminding them both that they still had yet to eat anything.

"Come on. If there is food around here we might as well take advantage of it while we can." Dropping her hand from his arm Sarah trudged ahead of him off towards the hovel while Jareth lagged behind.

Now that she wasn't looking at him anymore Jareth's mouth dropped into a deep frown as he watched her disappear into the cellar of the ruined hovel. Nearing the entrance as well; Jareth, with one foot rested on the first step leading down into the ground, turned and looked out into the empty Goblin City with unseeing eyes. The sooner they found their way into the Castle the better or so he thought to himself. Jareth did not relish the idea of having to dwell upon memories that were better left lost among the stones and the dust of the past and unfortunately the Goblin City served as a direct reminder of that which he preferred to forget.

When Jareth did finally appear in the cellar he discovered Sarah sitting on the edge of a low bench as Sir Didymus scurried about the small sod room in an attempt to make their surrounding as hospitable as possible. While most everything was ripped apart or broken somewhere the fox had managed to come across a half eaten loaf of rye bread and some normal looking fruit that though spotted looked edible enough. No doubt Sarah had already devoured several of the small plum sized apples that in spite of being a little too tart served to curb the initial sharp edge of her hunger.

"So Sir Didymus, tell me, where is your noble steed? I've missed Ambrosious about as much as I've missed you." Sarah inquired.

"Alas my lady my stalwart steed has long since passed. Now I alone observe my humble station in the bog. He was a good a noble sheep dog the likes of which I have never again known." Sir Didymus replied sadly once he'd finally made the table as nicely as it could be set and joined Sarah.

"Oh." Sarah felt a twinge in her heart at the news of the dogs…er steeds…death. Sarah recalled when her own sheep dog Merlin had finally passed on shortly after she'd graduated from high school. She'd been heartbroken then and could only imagine how Sir Didymus must have felt.

"Pay it no mind, my Lady. It twas his time. I have quite reconciled with my emotions on the matter." The fox said with a stiff sniff. "Ah, good Sir! Wilt thou come in and share our table?"

Jareth only cleared his throat once Sir Didymus addressed him and nodded lightly. Although the ceiling of the cellar was just high enough for Sarah to stand in Jareth was too tall and had to stand slightly bent over. Since they were already rather close to the ground and Jareth didn't trust the makeshift bench to hold both he and Sarah's combined weight, he opted to sit upon the floor at the end of the table instead.

"Sir Didymus was just telling me a little about the Labyrinth Knights and how they came to be established here." Sarah informed him after she'd swallowed a mouthful of bread.

"Yes. Well he would know all about the subject I suppose." Jareth replied as he carefully watched Sarah with a particular kind of look on his face as if he was uncomfortable with how much information she might glean.

:My…Companion tells me that the Knights were wiped out by civil war." Sarah remarked.

"Yes. Terrible business that was. A dark time in our otherwise enlightened history. Why I was but a suckling pup when the stories began to spread across the land. Many could hardly believe it I'm afraid. Hundreds were wiped out and hundreds more were said to have fled. Naturally by the time my second coat grew in I was ready to join up but when I was finally old enough to leave home and come to the Goblin City I'm afraid there was little left to fight for." Didymus shook his head sadly.

"You said that this was before your time Jar-" Sarah was about to inquire about how much Jareth's knowledge overlapped that of Didymus when she accidentally addressed him by his given name before the fox like knight.

Jareth's eyes widened at her slip. Given that Sarah had spent her entire journey the first time around characterizing Jareth as the villain it was unclear how the noble knight was bound to react once he realized her escort was on in the same.

"What? But my Lady, can this be true? Is this fair man thine enemy true? Thy foul and villainous kidnapper of thy most beloved kin?" With every question Sir Didymus' tone grew higher in wonder and disbelief.

"Sarah…" Jareth warned as he trained his eyes on the knight who looked as if he might lunge to his friend's defense at any moment.

Looking from Sarah to Jareth the fox suddenly spring into action.

"Thou vile warlock has bewitched this most beloved damsel fore never would she side with such a villain on her own accord!" The fox growled while he seized up his staff and leaped upon the table to point its tip directly in Jareth's face.

"Sir Didymus! No!" Sarah protested as she tried to make a grab for the creature without success.

"Rise and defend yourself if ye have any honor to they name!" Didymus took an experimental swing right at Jareth's head.

Luckily sheer instinct caused Jareth to duck as the staff whizzed over the top of his head. "I…I have no quarrel with you Sir Knight. My purpose rings true. I am here only in the capacity of escort and mean the Lady Sarah no harm!"

"Ha! A likely story! Stand back my lady so that I may dispose of this heathen who hath so gravely wronged you!" Didymus gave forth a battle cry and wound his scepter again like a pitcher upon the mound intending to strike at Jareth once more.

"No! No! Sir Didymus he's telling the truth! Jareth isn't trying to hurt me. He's helping me on my quest! Please! Calm yourself!" This time Sarah did get a hold of the fox pulling him to face her so that he could look into here eyes and see the truth of her words for himself.

"But…My lady. Is he not your enemy true?" The fox questioned.

"No. I mean, Yes. I mean…He was. But then I saved him from a deadly fate." Sarah said thinking fast on her feet. "And, uh, because I saved his life he…"

"I've sworn a blood oath of service." Jareth finished for her much to everyone's surprise.

"Can it be true my Lady?" Sir Didymus asked imploringly.

Sarah wasn't sure what she should say. While she and Jareth had made an agreement that he would help her if she helped him, he had by no means given a blood oath to serve her. That was pushing the truth a little far wasn't it? Glancing briefly at Jareth who gave her a slight nod Sarah swiftly returned her gaze to Sir Didymus.

"Yep. Jareth swore a blood oath because I saved him. Go figure. Who knew he could be so honorable. So there's no need to fight him. OK? He's one of the good guys now." Sarah reassured him.

Jareth grunted from the floor but didn't comment.

"Well in that case if the good Lady Sarah will vouch for thee than so shall I fair Sir. You are again welcome at my table." Sir Didymus proclaimed.

"I thank you Sir Knight. In spite of my past…digressions, you honor me." Jareth replied with a nod as their differences were instantly put behind them.

Sarah had to admit Jareth was showing amazing restraint under the circumstances and she could tell that when speaking to the Knight, Jareth uncharacteristically checked every word before he spoke them.

Now that their most recent crisis had been averted everyone settled back into their seats and finished their meal. Although Sir Didymus didn't notice it, Sarah noted how Jareth took a small piece of bread when the loaf was passed to him but he didn't actually eat it. Since the confrontation Jareth had hardly spoken a word at all and instead sat in silence curled upon the floor as he had the night before when they'd settled in the niche of the wall among the ruins in the Fire Gangs forest. Jareth almost looked as unhappy now has he had been then although Sarah couldn't think of why that was so and not knowing seemed bothered her somehow.

"Well, it's going to be dark very soon." Jareth finally noted a while after they'd finished and he slowly got to his feet. "Since we're here I think it's safe to have a fire for once. I beg your pardon Sir but I think I shall take this opportunity to gather up some wood and such for us to burn. Don't worry I'll return shortly."

His last sentence was directed to Sarah and as he passed her she could have sworn she felt Jareth brush the tips of his gloved fingers across her shoulder as if to ensure she knew that he was specifically speaking for her benefit but by the time she turned her head to look Jareth was already gone.

"Curious fellow, that one." Sir Didymus observed. "I must say he reminds me of someone."

"Really? Who?" Sarah's attention was drawn back to her friend.

"I'm afraid I couldn't say but I'm sure it'll come to me sooner or later." The fox idly reassured her.

Several minutes later when Jareth had yet to return Sarah quietly excused herself from Didymus's company and left the cellar to look for him.

"Jareth?" She called upon emerging from the cellar of the ruined hovel.

"I'm here Sarah. Did you need something?" Jareth replied emerging from around the side of the hovel with scraps of wood and kindling in his arms.

"Well it's really starting to get dark in there and Sir Didymus only has one small candle. You've been out here for awhile now. You're OK, right? I mean…You were so quiet at dinner and you didn't eat anything."

"I wasn't very hungry." Jareth replied.

"Right. OK well it's clear you don't want to talk so I'll leave you to come back inside whenever." From his tone Sarah could tell that she'd perhaps interrupted Jareth's contemplation and because she felt like she was intruding upon him just then she turned quickly as was ready to go back inside.

"Sarah. Wait. It's all right. You don't have to scurry off like that."

"Look Jareth if you're upset about what happened in there I just want you to know that Sir Didymus was just trying to protect me. Really he didn't mean anything by what he said before." She said in mild reproach.

"You don't have to apologize for him. I don't begrudge any of your former companions their feelings about me. For all intents and purposes the last time you were here I was your villain and I did do my best to torment you." Jareth replied.

"Yes, but you're helping me now right?" Sarah reasoned. "Whatever we were to each other before; things are different now."

"Yes. Things are different but neither of our natures has intrinsically been changed. We made a bargain Sarah, you and I. You've said so yourself. In agreement for helping me I've agreed to help you. Nothing more, nothing less. In the grand scheme of things that doesn't really speak much for my character. Nothing you've come to know about me does." Jareth almost hissed through his teeth.

"It really bother's you doesn't it? Huh. Even though you've spelled it out numerous times before I never believed until now how much you care about my opinion of you. And, even more surprising to me, you actually believe that you deserve the terrible things people say about you. I'm right. Aren't I?" She inquired.

"We should go back inside. It's getting late. You may think we've come to the easy part of this mission but getting into the castle without bringing the whole place down upon our heads is going to be the hardest part. We should sleep while we can. Come." Jareth extended out his free arm before her to encourage Sarah to turn back around without actually answering her question.

You won't admit it to me but I know that I'm right. Sarah thought to herself as she exhaled audibly and turned back around.

"Someday I'm going to get you to be totally honest with me Goblin Man." Sarah muttered under her breath.

Thanks to the small fire that was erected in the middle of the cellar once everyone had returned it looked like Sarah was finally going to enjoy a solid and comfortable sleep for the first time since she'd landed herself back in the underground. Even without a blanket the opportunity was heavenly and as quickly as she'd settled down, Sarah was blissfully asleep upon the sod floor leaving Jareth to contemplate in privacy while Sir Didymus set up his patrol outside intent upon guarding them all from danger through the night.

"This has all become such a mess." Jareth said quietly to himself as he slowly fed the fire and stared into its flames. "None of this is how it was supposed to be. Someone is going to have to assume responsibility and I fear Sarah that the results are going to be quite out of any of our hands."

Upon his last remark Jareth looked down upon his own gloved hands noting their length and remembering how someone long ago had once told him they were the hands of an artist and musician. If anything he had turned into a magician at best or was it a warlock as Sir Didymus had suggested? Jareth wasn't sure.

Now that his enchantment had been more or less lifted what was he to become now? If there was one thing Jareth had never really considered it was what he might have done with himself if he had won his wager with the Good Mother and been able to travel back across the worlds. In hind sight, Jareth wasn't even sure if he really wanted to go back to Sarah's world at all. After all, what was left for him there? All he'd ever wanted was his freedom and the right to choose his own path.

In a round about way he'd finally gotten his wish and yet now that he had it he didn't know what to do with it. Then there was Sarah. How peculiar it seemed to know her now as a woman instead of the woman-child she'd been upon first meeting him. Time had not altered her over much and while she was a fair amount older and wiser than she had been, Jareth could still see the bewildering girl in her who, while undoubtedly brave, was still seeking something she could not seem to find.

Watching her now while she slept on the other side of the room Jareth pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"What are you really searching for, Sarah? In spite of it all, I find myself curious to know." Jareth inquired under his breath as he carefully stood as not to rouse her and shrugged off his stained and slightly tattered blue coat stepping over the fire to place it across her form.

Scoffing at himself, Jareth returned to his place on the other side of the room and settled back into his seat against the sod wall as he crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes.

It would be several more hours until sleep finally over took him though, as Jareth reflected on earlier times.

It was periods of repose such as now when the former Goblin King remembered the smell of his beloved mother, and the debasing cruelty of the English work houses. He remembered how the misguided deeds of his father had forever sullied a small boy's name and how he was destined to never know the fates of either of his parents. He remembered how the lands surrounding the Labyrinth had come to be called the Underground and how he as a child he had found refuge in the maze and been regularly beaten for his follies both real and only imagined. But most of all he remembered the man who was responsible for it all and how Jareth had grown to hate him and the entity the man served.

No. Jareth was not the Villian he had so accurately tried to emulate when Sarah had first come into his life, although he had arguably done villainous things in his lifetime. In those final moments before he drifted into dreamless slumber, Jareth knew in his heart that any evil he could have been accused of committing had been necessary to spare the suffering of others far more deserving of rescue and relief than he. For this he was not ashamed.

Jareth would awake again before sunrise.

Since the good knight had been so inclined to watch over them in the night Jareth had felt it only reasonable that he take the final shift and let Sir Didymus have his own opportunity to rest which is why he'd risen early to release the knight from his patrol for a few hours at least.

Not to mention that Jareth knew a new plan would need to be formulated quickly if they wanted to get into the refuge of the castle before any more major shifts happened in the Labyrinth's magic.

Actually, the castle was only really a refuge for Sarah. For Jareth re-entering the castle would be more than dangerous mostly because as the door knocker has implied the powers that governed the Labyrinth were not all together happy with Jareth's deeds. Without the goblin's magic to shield him Jareth knew entering the castle would be likened to entering a hall of mirrors. It was a certifiable death trap of illusion and even if Jareth could avoid getting desperately lost there was always the risk of losing his sanity to worry about. It almost didn't seem worth it.

Perhaps it was better to simply direct Sarah in the right direction and then part ways. Technically he had fulfilled his promise to get Sarah to the castle. Getting her brother out of his situation was another thing entirely. But then again if he abandoned her now, Sarah would always resent him for it and although he liked to pretend he didn't care what she thought of him; his constant efforts to defend himself against her accusations had left him feeling more sensitive about her opinions of him than he'd intended to be.

Still, Jareth simply could not justify following Sarah into the castle proper and it wasn't as if she didn't have friends. He would take her as far as he dared go but no further. If Sarah wasn't able to understand his reasons for not following her into the proverbial lions den than that was how it would have to be.

Meanwhile, having been relieved of his guard duties by Jareth, Sir Didymus had gone back to his hollow tree in the bog to rest and to keep an ear open at his actual post. Though Sarah was of course important, there was still the duty of watching over the eastern pass. A task the ageing knight took very seriously.

Little was any of them aware just how closely all of their activities were being watched however. As commanded by Ariad, Rachel upon acting as her spy had long been tracking Sarah and Jareth's whereabouts from the time they'd entered the enchanted forest and had since followed them to the outer wall leading into the Goblin City. It was here disguised as the ermine that Rachel waited for further instructions upon the great wall.

Without Sir Didymus standing at his post through most of the evening before, no one had seen the over-sized ermine approach nor had they heard it quickly silence the commotion made by a small gaggle of chickens that had been killed and then devoured for her supper while the others made a meal of fruit and bread. Even Rachel was prone to sleep however, and once she had taken her meal and settled back upon the wall to rest and wait it was no real surprise that, upon preparing to rejoin his companions upon the mornings first light, the Sir Didymus saw the beautiful creature of whom he thought looked remarkably like him self, only, in female form.

But as quickly as his eyes trained on the creature, so did Rachel stir at the sensation of being watched; and upon seeing the fox Knight in the distance observing her; Rachel bore her teeth and growled loudly at him before slipping down the side of the wall in the opposite direction and disappeared from sight.

Unaccustomed to seeing other animals besides goblins and chickens, Sir Didymus watched the feminine creature disappear into the Goblin City and sighed. Without knowing any better Sir Didymus's turned back to his humble abode to glance into a small piece of mirror that had been hung on a nail inside the trunk.

"Beautiful lady. Have I perhaps lost my touch?" The fox inquired to himself when Rachel had bore her teeth at him and run away.

When the sun finally did come up Jareth was glad of it. At night it was too easy for the mind to wander and for the regrets o the past to creep in and plague the heart and mind. Intent upon actually providing something substantial for their breakfast Jareth went about the business of catching one of the wayward chickens that seemed to be the predominate food supply an in area on legs. Finding a few eggs while he was at the business made him all the happier and although Jareth had no knife he did still have the sharpened rock he'd made so that Sarah could cut his hair which was good enough to slaughter and clean their breakfast that morning.

A short time later Sir Didymus appeared from around the bend bowing to Jareth politely once the fox neared him. "Good morning fair nave."

"Good morning Sir Knight." Despite that Si Didymus had so plainly attacked him the night before, Jareth was inclined to be respectful of him and even seemed to enjoy the fact that the Labyrinth Knight had returned once more. "Will you take this meal with us? Lady Sarah has not risen yet but I'm sure she will once this sets to cook."

"I will indeed." Didymus agreed. "Tell me young, Sir. Have you ever been trained in the ways of honorable knighthood?"

The question was a curious one for the fox to ask and Jareth knew that the Knight was trying to remember something that had apparently slipped his mind. "I'm familiar with your ways. Yes. Although I can't say that I was ever formally taught."

"Are you familiar with the six requirements of Knighthood?" Sir Didymus inquired.

At first it seemed as if Jareth had no intention of offering forth an answer as the corners of his mouth dipped down in a mild frown while he crouched along the side of the hovel where he could clean the chicken without making too much of a mess.

**_"A prospective Knight of the Labyrinth must be able to read and write. They must also have a good foundation in a form of defense._**

**_ Knights must know the ways of logic and rhyme to win in a battle of wits. _**

**_ Labyrinth Knights must prove proficient in numbers and science so that they may better understand the workings of the natural world. _**

**_Knights must keep a healthy physique and have mastery over themselves._**

**_ But most of all because history repeats and our world turns and twists, a Labyrinth Knight must know of this maze and remember of what it consists."_**

"I believe that is what the teaching says." Jareth replied after he repeated the six lessons of knighthood.

"Now Sir tell me how it is you came to know of thy rank. Fore ye called me Captain upon first meeting, did ye not?" The fox asked slyly.

"You served in the final campaign against Ivor the Black. It was you along with a small band of surviving knights who stole Ivor's magical hammer and hid it deep under the castle proper. Without the invincibility of which his war hammer extended him, Ivor was made vulnerable to physical attack and was eventually slain. But you were only a Colonel then. You won the commission of Captain when you secretly broke your way into the castle's kitchen and personally led many of the enslaved servants, several of them children, to safety and hid them among the boardering wilds until the day was won. What you did was very brave and very dangerous. Ivor would have certainly hunted you had he not been brought down." Jareth explained.

"Many; but not all." Sir Didymus remarked quietly.

"No, not all. Some who were older were not limited to the kitchen and the castle's under belly. A select few were kept in the main chamber to wait on Ivor and his compatriots while he planned his terrible campaigns against all those who would appose him." Jareth recounted the story as if from memory.

"Were you ever told Sir Captain how Ivor the Black was said to have met his fate?" Jareth paused but Sir Didymus did not seek to offer forth an answer.

Jareth scoffed lightly. "It's told that the lord was poisoned when he sat at his table to feast. An enchanted peach had been served him laced with a powerful drug and as Ivor sat incapacitated upon his own terrible seat the great black seed of the poisoned fruit was removed from the flesh surrounding it and forcibly lodged in the warlord's throat. His end was as vicious and violent as his reign."

"There were stories about that deed." Sir Didymus remarked shrewdly.

At that remark Jareth gave forth a thin mirthless smile. "Yes. There is a story of a jealous young kitchen nave who sought to elevate himself to the position of squire under the name of one of the great Knights of the First Order, fore his own name was shrouded in shame. It is said that this nave plotted to kill the Black Lord intending to seek out the remaining Labyrinth Knights once the deed was done and the kingdom was at last liberated so that he might train and once again bring honor to his name. But such things were never meant to be."

"W-Was it ye who had slain the Black Lord, third Sovereign of the Labyrinth and the castle beyond the Goblin City?" Didymus stepped forward now and placed his small clawed fist upon Jareth's knee compassionately.

No. I didn't poison Ivor the Hammar Fist. His chief chancellor did under the belief that if he was to slay the ruler he could assume control over the Goblin Kingdom and take the magic for his own. The damn fool." Jareth hissed.

"The Chancellor Riggs, formidable as his sorcery was, had forgotten the rules of govern ship which had been laid down by the second sovereign of the Goblin Kingdom prior to Ivor's arrival in these lands; Because Ivor had engaged in open battle with the Labyrinth Knights by the laws of the Labyrinth's magic his death released temporary control of the kingdom unto them and not his murderer. As you know Sir Knight, the Knights of the Labyrinth were founded in the event that the ruling king couldn't serve in the best interest of the kingdom and its people." Jareth paused.

"The goblins themselves still needed a custodian however. A role the chancellor would have undertaken had his terrible betrayal not incited the Labyrinth's rage. Riggs was banished from the castle and because most of the others had been liberated from within its walls those who remained were bound by association to the goblin's power. That is how I came to earn my former station." Jareth concluded.

"I see," Sir Didymus replied pensively. "But surely now that a new ruler has come, you have been liberated."

"Why yes. As a matter of fact, I have been liberated but at the expense of another man's pending imprisonment. Toby Williams didn't ask for any of this. All was set into motion long before his time. When Sarah won him back the last time she was here she gave back his right of choice. The Labyrinth cannot force him to assume power which is why we must help Sarah as best we can. Even if Toby learns of the true nature of his position the pressure might be too much for him to resist. Sarah is his one unbending strength and his best chance." Jareth sighed.

"I'm sorry Sir Knight but I've become weary of this subject line. Please, don't speak of these things with the Lady Sarah. I'm not particularly proud to know of them and I'd rather that she not be burdened by the weight of this information either."

"You have my word, Sir." The fox's mouth was still somewhat agape. "For what it's worth, you're part in the business showed great fortitude of spirit. Had you come under I or another's training you would have made a fair noble Knight."

After this remark the man and the fox went on to prepare their small groups breakfast while Sarah still slumbered below. Neither of them spoke anymore on the subject and by the end of their preparations both had gained a more enlightened sort of respect for each other.


End file.
